The Other Virus
by Data Girl 3
Summary: The Bohemians are prepared to make this Halloween the best they'd ever experienced as a family.  But an unseen danger threatens to turn their celebrations into a greater tragedy then loosing Angel three years ago.  Rating may go up.
1. The New Feline of Avenue B

**AN:** I was attacked by a mob of Plot Bunnies on my way to work today. And what do you do when you're attacked by Plot Bunnies? You appease them with carrots, of course. And this was the result.  
This story takes place after the Bohos move to the Condo at the end of Sunsets and Sunrises.

* * *

It was getting close to six thirty in the Condo on a crisp October night. Roger was still out with his band, practicing for an upcoming gig, and Mark, Emily and Penny had quickly stepped out to pick up some dinner at Mr. Yao's Chinese Restaurant. This left Mimi alone in the apartment with her seven-month-old son, Rodolfo, currently banging his rattle against the bars of his playpen, while Wenceslas, the family's pet potbellied pig, had his snout buried in his food bowl. At the current time, Mimi was on the phone with Maureen, who was firing away one of her latest ideas for an escapade.

"A costume party?" Mimi asked, the mischievous sparkle in her eyes flaring up.

"That's right! Over in Tompkins Square Park!" Maureen confirmed. "A lotta people are heading down there on Halloween in costumes for this whole Halloween bash, with a live band playing stuff from old scary movies, games and contests, and even a haunted house! I've already convinced Collins to come, and I'm working on talking Joanne into it, too. Think you can work with the rest?"

"Oh, I think I can persuade them into it," Mimi replied. "Listen, Maureen. I should go feed Rodolfo. He's starting to fuss."

"Okay. Call you later." Once Mimi had hung up, she proceeded to the kitchenette and went to work in mixing applesauce from a jar with some canned pears, a combination the seven-month-old rarely turned down. Rodolfo wasn't exactly a picky eater, but he more then made it known what he liked and didn't like. Mimi and Mark often joked that Rodolfo would grow up to be even more assertive then his father.

Once Rodolfo was secure in his high chair, Mimi began to spoon feed him the applesauce and pears mixture. As she was finishing up, the door opened and Roger entered, his guitar case in one hand and the other stuffed in the pocket of his leather jacket. Rodolfo instantly gave a happy laugh upon seeing his father coming home.

"Hey there, beautiful," Roger greeted, depositing the guitar case by the door and bending down to kiss Mimi's temple, placing his free hand on her cheek as he did so. He then turned to lightly tousle the small patch of dirty blonde hair on Rodolfo's head. However, he kept the hand in his pocket where it was.

"What are you hiding?" Mimi asked suspiciously.

"What makes you think I'd hide something from my _very _sexy wife and baby son?" Roger put on an offended stance.

"Because you haven't taken your da-n hand out of that pocket," Mimi pointed out. Instead of answering, Roger plopped down in a nearby chair, a large grin on his face. Mimi continued to eye the pocket in question, but suddenly noticed that the pocket was moving, almost as if something was wriggling around inside it. "Roger Davis, do you have something _alive_ in there?!"

"Well…" Roger began to speak very slowly. "You see, Meems, I was coming home from practice when I noticed something moving around in an alley. I decided to take a quick peek to see what it was. When I did, I found something." Mimi began giving him a look, waiting for him to get to the point.

"Anyway, I started thinking," Roger continued. "When was the last time I brought something home to my wife, just for the he-l of it? So I figured, why not give the former self-proclaimed 'Feline of Avenue B' a little competition for that title?" As Roger finished, he withdrew his hand from the pocket. In doing so, he revealed the small surprise he'd brought Mimi, one that made the dancer's brown eyes widen in surprise. It was a small grey and white kitten, just big enough to fit in the palm of her hand. From the looks of the kitten, someone had just dumped him onto the street. He was only about three weeks old, and the ribs could clearly be seen. As Mimi gently took the kitten from Roger's hand, he gave a tiny, pitiful 'mew'.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Mimi gasped, carrying the kitten to the kitchenette. Placing him up on the counter, she quickly prepared a small saucer of milk to give to the kitten. As the kitten hungrily lapped up the milk, Mimi returned her attention to Roger.

"Do you like 'im?" Roger asked tentatively.

"Oh, how could I not? Just look at the poor thing! It probably would have died if you hadn't come along." Once the kitten had finished the milk, Mimi took him to the couch, where he immediately curled up on her lap and fell asleep. Roger promptly joined her, with Rodolfo in his arms. For a moment, they sat in silence, with Mimi stroking a finger over the kitten's tiny head, and Rodolfo staring at the new kitten in infantile interest.

"You'll have to think of a name for him," Roger pointed out. After a second's hesitation, Mimi slowly took the kitten's tail and lifted it slightly, trying her best not to disturb the sleeping kitten.

"No," she giggled. "Actually, it looks like he's a her."

"Oh. Right." A faint blush started appearing on Roger's face. "Well… you'll have to think of a name for _her_, then." Mimi took a moment to think before a small smile stretched across her face.

"Maya," she announced finally. "For Maya Angelou."

"Maya it is," Roger agreed.

"Thank you, Roger," Mimi whispered, resting her head on her husband's shoulder. "I just love her. But not as much as I love you." Smiling, Roger responded by draping an arm around her.

"I love you too, Meems. I always will." **  
**

* * *

**AN: **To see Maya, visit my photobucket account


	2. Danger Arrives

**,AN:** The next few chapters are going to be short, I'm afraid. I originally wanted them to be one whole chapter, but once the individual scenes were written, I found they wouldn't really fit under the same chapter name. Thus, they were split.  
Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

A heavy fog blanketed the docks that night. The only lights were coming from the lampposts lining the harbor. At the current time, a lone longshoreman was at work unloading crates from a cargo ship that had come from Romania.

"Sh-t, I hate the graveyard shift," the longshoreman complained as he operated the controls of the forklift to unload the heavy crates from the ship. In the process of moving one crate, however, the forklift rammed into one of the cleats. With a crash, the crate slid off of the forklift and toppled over, landing on its side and spilling half of the contents into the water. "Aw, fu-k!" The longshoreman climbed out of the forklift and stormed over to the fallen crate, muttering obscenities under his breath. With a flashlight, he scanned over the floating items, and continued to mutter curses.

From the shadows, the longshoreman was being watched. The shrouded figure flexed his long fingers in exuberant relief. It had been so long since he'd been free, ages since he'd been sealed up. And now, just when he thought he'd never be released, his accursed prison had been split open when the crate had fallen. Finally, he was able to roam free once again.

The figure smelled the air in anticipation. Beyond the heavy stench of fish and seaweed that hung in the air around the harbor, he could smell them all. Thousands of people, maybe even millions. And they were all out there, waiting unknowingly for what was to come now. Ah, the thrill of the hunt.

But they could wait. They could all wait. For now, they were safe. He was hungry now. It had been _so_ long since he had fed. And why should he try to find a hunt out there when there was a waiting straggler right in front of him, practically handed to him on a silver platter?

With a grunt, the longshoreman turned away from the crate, still fuming. But as he turned, a shadowy blur dashed by out of the corner of his eye. The longshoreman turned quickly, but found only a deserted harbor. A second later, he saw the movement in his peripheral vision again. But whatever was moving around was gone when he turned to get a better look.

"Hey!" The longshoreman barked, getting pretty annoyed now. "Whoever is out there, the joke's over. Now come out! You shouldn't be out here, this area is for authorized personnel only!" The longshoreman was met with only silence. Starting to feel uneasy, he went to reach for his radio to call for the other night workers. But as he did so, the light from the nearest lamppost went out. The longshoreman turned quickly to look up at the faulty lamppost. The instant he looked up, his face blanched in terror.

The quiet that had resided over the docks was broken by a horrified scream, one that was silenced almost instantly. But the sudden disturbance sent a flock of gulls fleeing from their nesting place, with resounding, high-pitched squawks.


	3. If Only Life Was Always This Simple

**,AN: **This chapter kinda gets off the track a bit, and is basicly filler. But I wanted to reiterate the peaceful life the Bohos are living when this story begins.  
Plus, a shout out to LifeIsTooQuick, who gave me the idea of how this chapter opens with her talk about a catnip mouse's POV in a PM. Thanks, LifeIsTooQuick.

* * *

The predator crouched down, eyeing her prey, that wiggly squirming thing. It was perfectly unaware that the huntress was there, waiting for the right moment to strike. The predator's tail twitched in expectation, and her large, yellow eyes narrowed dangerously, as her prey got closer, and closer. Sharp claws retracted from the predator's paws, ready to sink into the unsuspecting prey. Any minute now, the prey would be in striking distance. Soon….soon… now!

Mark let out a surprised shout as the little kitten, Maya, pounced out from her hiding place beneath the metal table and attacked his loose shoelace, batting at the cord playfully.

"Maya!" Mark sighed, scooping up the kitten, trying to feign sternness. "How many times do I have to tell you? You have catnip mice and little pom-poms to play with. My shoelaces are not on your toy list." Maya responded with a contented 'mew', and squirmed around, trying to lick Mark's hand. The small kitten had gained some weight since Roger had found her in the alley, weak and neglected, and was now as lively and energetic as any other kitten.

"Dad, you're not fooling anyone, " Penny giggled, watching Mark scold Maya. "We all know you don't mind her pouncing when your shoelaces are undone. Admit it, you think it's funny, too." Choosing to ignore Penny's comment, Mark quickly scratched the spot behind Maya's ears and placed the kitten back on the ground next to her food dish, which had been positioned next to Wenceslas'. Maya and Wenceslas had seemed to hit it off very well from the start, and Maya absolutely loved to take naps on Wenceslas' back. The black potbellied pig sometimes even let the kitten eat from his bowl.

After patting Wenceslas' side, Mark took a moment to look around at his family. A few years ago, he'd never have imagined that he'd be here, married to Emily for four months, with Penny, their adopted daughter, who they both loved as if she was their real daughter. He never would have imagined that the three of them would also be living with Roger, his best friend, the man who was like a brother to him, and Roger's wife, Mimi, and their son, Rodolfo. Yet, here they all were. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they'd all come a long way in the past three, nearly four, years.

At that precise moment, Mimi and Penny were at the metal table, finishing up their breakfast of French toast, while Emily was in the middle of washing up the dishes. Rodolfo, meanwhile, was secured in his high chair, grasping some of the cheerios that had been left in front of him and bringing them to his mouth. And over on the couch, Roger was lounged out, watching a news broadcast. According to the reporter on the TV, the body of some longshoreman was found early that morning in the harbor. The official story at the time was that the man had died in some freak accident while unloading a cargo ship from Romania.

Despite the small tragedy that was being discussed on the news broadcast, Mark found it was hard to feel bad for someone they didn't know. This was one of those moments when it seemed like nothing could touch them, and life was simple and perfect. Whenever those moments came around, they always left Mark wishing that was how things really were. That it would always be like this.

As if on cue, like an alarm clock going off in the middle of a very good dream, the peaceful moment was shattered by the sounds of two beepers going off. Simultaneously, Roger and Mimi switched off their beepers.

"Roger," Mimi sighed. "Could you get our AZT? I left it in the medicine chest in our bathroom."

"Yeah, sure." Roger reluctantly switched off the TV and began to shuffle toward the bedroom that he and Mimi shared, glancing down at his sweatpants and faded T-shirt as he went. "I probably should get changed, anyway, since Maureen's stopping by to drag us all to that costume shop that opened up last week."

As Roger passed Rodolfo's high chair, the seven-month old let out a laugh, and tossed his rattle to the floor. Roger instinctively bent down to pick it up, returning it to his baby son. But the second Roger started to continue on his way, the rattle was thrown to the floor again.

"Uh oh," Emily grinned as she took out one of her insulin needles from the freezer. "Looks like Rodolfo's discovered the game of 'Dropsy'. You and Mimi better get used to it, Roger. When Penny was that age, she could go on for half an hour before she got tired of that game." Chucking, Roger once again returned the rattle before kissing Rodolfo's head. As he straightened up, he noticed the look Mark was giving him. Catching his eye, they nonverbally agreed on the same thing.

_If only life was always this simple._


	4. Singled Out

The Bohemians were all assembled at the costume shop, with everyone off in various sections in search for a costume. Rodolfo was being watched by Nana for a bit, so they could put their full attention in finding their costumes. Unfortunately, not everyone was having much luck. After a good fifteen minutes, Roger still hadn't found a single costume he liked.

"Maybe not," he sighed, returning an Egyptian soldier costume he'd been debating over to the rack. Man, had he gotten out of the habit of finding a Halloween costume. The last time he'd dressed up was when he and Mark had gone to the Halloween Party back in high school, during their senior year. But that was ages ago.

Deciding to check up on how the others were doing, he made his way to the back of the store. Over by the dressing rooms, he ran into Maureen, Joanne and Collins, who apparently had all selected their costumes. Maureen had found a rather revealing-looking tiger suit while Joanne was scrutinizing over a zombie costume. Collins, meanwhile, was looking in the mirror, examining himself in the gangster costume he'd come across.

"Not bad," Roger grinned, judging his friends' selections.

"What about you?" Maureen asked, looking down at Roger's hands to see if he was carrying anything. "What are you gonna be wearing?"

"No idea," Roger shrugged. "Nothing's really calling to me. Anyway, where's Mimi and the Cohen fam?"

"Probably still trying on costumes in the dressing room," Joanne surmised.

"Oh, not anymore." Collins pointed to where Penny had emerged, dressed as a hobo, followed by Emily in a full baseball uniform and Mark, who looked as if he'd stepped out of an old Victorian movie.

"Mark, what is _that_?" Roger couldn't hold back a loud laugh at seeing his best friend in the black cloak and burgundy waistcoat, complete with a jabot collar. Mark sent Roger a stern look, holding up a rubber butcher knife.

"Jack the Ripper," he answered.

"And Emily's a baseball player, obviously," Joanne noted. All the Bohemians knew Emily was a big-time fan of baseball.

"Dorothy Kamenshek, to be exact," Emily confirmed. "The seven-time All Star player from the Rockford Peaches."

"Never heard of them," Maureen shook her head.

"That'll be because they were only around from 1943 to 1954," Emily explained. "The team eventually fizzled out after the war ended, and the male baseball players came back."

"And where's you're costume, Roger?" Mark asked.

"He doesn't have one," Collins smirked.

"I just can't see myself in anything here," Roger defended himself.

"Maybe _I_ can help," Mimi's voice purred from behind him. Roger instantly smiled as he turned, but he found his jaw dropping when he got a look at Mimi's costume of a very short, low-cut black dress, with fishnet stockings, black stiletto boots, and a pointed witch's hat.

"Whoa," was all Roger could manage to say. "Tell me you're gonna wear that for me tonight."

"We'll see," Mimi winked. "First, let's find something you can wear to the Halloween Bash. I've already found a little pumpkin costume for Rodolfo, so finding something for you should be easy." Mimi took Roger by the hand and started to lead him through the store, quickly turning down thinks like 'Werewolf' 'Frankenstein' and 'Swamp Thing'. Finally she stopped and held up a Dracula costume.

"Dracula?" Roger cast a skeptical eye at the costume.

"Well, duh," Mimi giggled. "You know vampires are _really_ sexy. You should have no problem pulling it off." Roger slowly broke into a sly smile.

"Well, maybe I should start practicing, then," he joked before bending down to lightly nip at Mimi's neck, prompting a loud giggle from her.

* * *

After the costumes had been purchased, the Bohemians parted ways to return to their homes. However, Roger and Mimi were taking a small detour to pick up Rodolfo before rejoining Mark, Emily and Penny back at the Condo. As they walked, with Roger whispering to Mimi every so often and Mimi lovingly squeezing his arm in response, they passed a rather tall man in a trench coat, dark sunglasses and a fedora. The stranger moved so closely to Roger that their shoulders brushed against each other. The moment the contact had been made, the tall man had immediately stopped and stared at Roger.

"Sorry, mister," Roger carelessly apologized before he and Mimi continued on their way. The two were so lost in their own world that they failed to notice that the tall man continued to stand there, watching them walk up the street.

* * *

Officer Kurtz waited in one of the offices at St. Vincent's Hospital. It was times like this he disliked being a cop. Still it was like they said, 'it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.'

After a short time, Doctor Jordan entered the room.

"Good afternoon, Officer Kurtz," the middle-aged doctor greeted.

"And you," Officer Kurtz nodded in response before getting straight to business. "So, I take it the results of autopsy of that longshoreman are in."

"Yes, they are," Doctor Jordan confirmed. "I suppose you'll want to know what the autopsy discovered."

"You must know I do. We need something to put on the police reports."

"Well, I'd love to see how you'll be able to explain _this _one at headquarters," Doctor Jordan frowned grimly.

"I don't understand."

"The man that was brought in, Officer Kurtz," Doctor Jordan paused before continuing. "He was completely drained of blood. There was not a single drop in the body when the autopsy was performed."

* * *

**AN:** Sorry about the short chapter. There just wasn't much to cover in this one. But I'm hoping that it's becoming clearer over where this story's going. If not, just wait until the next chapter.


	5. Targeted

Rodolfo squealed in delight as a broadly smiling Roger lay back on the bed, lifting the baby boy into the air.

"Roger, don't get him over excited," Mimi playfully scolded. "It's his bedtime. If he gets too excited, he'll never get to sleep."

"Aw, Meems," Roger grinned, pulling himself up into a sitting position, balancing Rodolfo on his knee. "Are you really going to deprive a man of bonding time with his son?"

"And are _you_ going to deprive your son from getting the sleep all seven-month-old babies need?" Mimi debated. "You'll have tomorrow to continue any game you want to play with him."

"Sorry, Rodolfo," Roger carried Rodolfo to the crib in the corner and tucked the boy under the blue quilt. "Mommy's word is law." Rolling her eyes, Mimi lightly slapped Roger's arm.

"Don't you make me the bad guy, Roger Davis."

"You're right, that's not nice." Roger's smile grew to a smirk, quirking his eyebrow as he tugged Mimi up against him. "I might just need to be punished."

"Not with our son watching!" Mimi half gasped, half laughed as she wrapped her arms around Roger's neck and kissed him tenderly. Roger chuckled and pretended to think.

"Well, if an audience is a problem for you, I could go see if Mark and Emily would mind rooming with their nephew for the night." Roger turned and left the bedroom, crossing the Condo, passing Wenceslas and Maya who were snuggled together by the couch, and opened the door to Mark and Emily's room. Before he could say a word, he was greeted by two startled shouts.

"Sh-t, Roger!" Mark yelled, quickly grabbing the pillow to cover himself while Emily hid behind the irritated filmmaker, holding the blanket up to her body like a shield. "Haven't you heard of _knocking_!?"

"Whoa! Sorry, buddy. I didn't realize the two of you were…. busy."

"Yeah, well maybe you should_ knock_ next time, and not just storm into our room," Mark spat.

"Sure, and you could try locking your door," Roger pointed out.

"Roger, just get out!" Emily ordered, glaring at the musician over Mark's shoulder.

"Okay, I'm leaving. We'll just say we're even now."

"Even? For what?" Mark's face twisted in confusion.

"The time she almost saw me in a similar situation," Roger explained, gesturing at Emily.

"That was your own fault!" Emily cried, blushing. "You were parading around the Loft in the nude, when you could have had the same courtesy as Mimi to at least wrap up in a blanket. And might I add that I bothered knocking on that occasion?"

"Okay, okay, I get the picture!" Roger raised his hands in defeat, backing out of the room. "I'm leaving." Once Roger closed the door, dodging the shoe that was thrown at him for good measure, Mark and Emily let out frustrated sighs.

"You really saw him nude?" Mark asked hesitantly. Emily bit back a laugh, laying a soft kiss on Mark's shoulder.

"I didn't see anything," she assured. "He managed to hide himself behind Mimi in time."

"Good," Mark smiled, turning his full attention back to Emily, taking the blanket from her to wrap the both of them under it. "'Cause nothing turns a guy off like knowing his wife saw his best friend naked."

* * *

Roger returned to his room to find Mimi hovering over Rodolfo's crib.

"I don't think they're willing to watch him tonight," Roger announced.

"I know," Mimi nodded. "I heard enough to gather that. Just as well. Rodolfo's already asleep."

"Yeah." Roger shrugged, walking over to the bed, hiding his disappointment. "Guess we should just get some sleep then." As Roger started to crawl into bed, Mimi nearly tackled him, grinning mischievously. "Mimi? What…?" Roger was cut off by Mimi's passionate kiss. When she pulled away, she bent over his ear.

"There is_ one _game we can play," she whispered as she pulled out a familiar pair of handcuffs from behind her back, along with a red velvet blindfold, one that Roger recognized from the 'Naughty Weekend Kit' Maureen had given him on his 25th birthday.

"What about Rodolfo?" Roger asked, glancing over at the nearby crib. Mimi covered Roger's mouth with a hand before using the blindfold as a makeshift gag.

"That's the whole point of the game," Mimi explained in a whisper, pulling off Roger's shirt before using the handcuffs to secure his wrists to the bed. "The game's called 'how long can Roger Davis stay quiet?' Smirking seductively at the heated expression on Roger's face, Mimi went to work, covering Roger's chest with kisses and strokes from her hands and tongue, slowly moving downward towards the bulge that was rapidly forming under Roger's jeans, begging to be released.

* * *

Across the street from the Condo, the shadowy figure had his eyes focused on the Condo's fifth story window.

_So. That is where he lives,_ the figure mused to himself, contemplating his find. He had lived for centuries, but he'd never before come across anyone like that one man. So much darkness and pain woven into his soul. Even when they were lying dormant, they still were there, easy enough to be sensed. There would never be another mortal more worthy of filling the necessary role. His decision made, the figure slipped into the shadows.

* * *

A sudden noise pulled Mimi out of sleep. A shadowy figure was moving around in the room.

"Who's that?" Mimi spoke up.

"Shh," Roger's voice whispered in response as he took a seat on the bed next to her. "It's just me."

"What time is it?" Mimi yawned.

"Almost three."

"Then why are you up?" Roger sighed heavily before replying.

"Robbie called me up. Said it was an emergency, and he wanted to see me about something."

"What's so important that it couldn't wait 'till morning?" Mimi frowned.

"Who knows with Robbie?" Roger shrugged. "I won't be long, though. You just go back to sleep, okay? I'll see you in a few hours."

"M'kay," Mimi mumbled sleepily. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Hey, there's no question of me not being careful," Roger cooed, kissing her lovingly. "Not when I've got a beautiful wife and son, who I both love more then my life. I'm not going to risk loosing that for anything."

"Good," Mimi smiled, falling back asleep. "Love you, Rog." Roger smiled to himself, stroking her cheek.

"Love you, too, Mimi."

* * *

Roger silently headed up the street, making his way to the subway that would bring him to Robbie's pad. As he walked, he breathed in the unseasonably warm night air, grinning widely, and thinking about how lucky he'd become these past few years. At times it was easy to forget about the deadly virus that existed inside his body. In the year that followed his diagnosis, he'd believed all luck had left his life for good. Sh-t, was he stupid thinking that, especially considering who he was surrounded with. He had friends who loved and cared about him, and stood by him through everything. And now he had Mimi and Rodolfo, the two people he'd gladly die for. As bad as things were before, that's how good they were now.

Chuckling to himself, Roger paused in his journey to the subway to pull out a cigarette. As he started to light it, he heard a low, stony voice calling his name from an alley.

"Who's that?" Roger spun around instantly.

"Roger," the voice called again, a little louder this time. Roger inched forward, squinting into the ally.

"Robbie, I swear, if that's you trying to scare me or something, I'll kill you," Roger warned. When no one answered, Roger started to think about moving on, but suddenly found himself walking into the alley, completely against his better judgment. "Seriously, this isn't funny!" Roger called out to no one. "I'm leaving now, so you can fu-k off and creep out some other loser." Roger turned to leave, but when a low laugh reached his ears, his legs stopped obeying him, and he was rooted to the spot. Roger looked over at the entrance of the alley to see the same man in the trench coat he'd bumped into hours earlier, after the Bohemians had left the costume shop.

"You!" Roger blinked. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I have many names," the Trench Coat Guy replied in a voice that easily turned Roger's blood to ice. It was like nails-on-chalkboard, combined by steel-scraping-rock. "And as for what I want… just you."

"Not interested," Roger shot back, trying not to show this guy how uneasy he was making him feel.

"Oh, but you're just perfect." The Trench Coat Guy gripped Roger's chin in his hand as he spoke.

_Sh-t, his hands are freezing._ Roger was starting to get very scared now. Why weren't his legs listening to his head when it was screaming at him to get out of that alley now?

"I don't get you," Roger forced his voice to remain calm.

"I can see inside your heart," the Trench Coat Guy was almost purring now. "So dark. So much anger. With a little nurturing, who knows what the possibilities could be?"

"I'm warning you once, pal," Roger growled, his fear now replaced by annoyance. "You get out of my way."

"No, I don't think so," the Trench Coat Guy laughed. "Why would I do that, when I've been looking for someone like you for so long?"

"I don't give a fu-k about how long you've been 'waiting,'" Roger shouted, shoving The Trench Coat Guy back. "Get out of my way, or I'll kill you."

"Ah, I'm afraid there's a little problem with your threat," the Trench Coat Guy hissed, now towering over Roger. "You see, how can you kill me, when I'm not alive to begin with?" As this was said, The Trench Coat Guy discarded his fedora and sunglasses, revealing his pale grey face, currently broken into a pitiless smile, and the cruel red and yellow eyes. The sight of the terrible face effectively made Roger's heart stop, especially when he noted that the merciless smile revealed a pair of jagged fangs.

"No," Roger whispered. "You're… you guys aren't real. You're just stories."

"Oh," the vampire clicked his tongue in cruel sympathy. "I'm afraid that all 'stories' have a basis in fact, as you will find out." Roger made one final attempt to run, but before he could reach the lit street, he felt the strong, cold hands on his arms, followed by a sharp pain in his neck.

_This is a dream, _Roger thought desperately. _This has to be a dream. Meems, Mark, someone, wake me up, please!_ Even as these panicked pleas filled Roger's mind, he could feel his body slowly growing numb, as if it was being lowered into a tub of frozen water. But even stronger then the sensation of his life slipping away was the feel of moisture on his face as hopeless tears began falling from his eyes. Why'd he leave the Condo? He should have turned down Robbie's request and just stayed in bed, with his friends, his family, close by. Stayed with Mimi in his arms and Rodolfo asleep in the crib. He was even starting to doubt that even _was_ Robbie on the phone, suspecting that it was just a trap to lure him out.

The icy coldness had almost consumed him completely, but the throbbing pain in his neck remained. It was getting hard to think, and even harder to keep his eyes open. Before Roger was completely lost to the darkness, his mind focused only on his small family who were waiting for him to come home, and the anguish he felt at the knowledge that they would be waiting in vain. Then, with a weak sob, Roger gave in to the darkness clouding his mind, and he remembered nothing.

* * *

**AN: **You can refrain from the angry, abusive reviews. This isn't the end of the story. Far from it. There's still quite a few more chapters to go. So please do not worry. At least, not too much.


	6. An Emotional Rollercoaster

Mimi woke up a little later then she normally did to find Roger was not there with her. Figuring that he'd already gotten up, she pulled herself out of bed and lifted Rodolfo out of the crib, heading out into the living room area, which was deserted apart from Emily, who was going over what looked like a grocery list at the metal table in the kitchenette.

"Morning, Mimi," Emily greeted. Mimi returned the greeting, fighting back a laugh as she remembered what Roger had interrupted her and Mark doing last night.

"So, did you and Mark have a good night?" Mimi asked with a devious smile.

"What Mark and I do when we're alone, Mimi, is our personal, private business," Emily replied, the hints of a smile forming in the corners of her mouth. "And you should know me well enough to understand that I don't kiss and tell." Mimi chuckled as she placed Rodolfo in his high chair, and opening the fridge to put his breakfast together.

"Want to do something today?" Mimi asked as she started to feed her son. Emily paused for a moment. When she did reply, she didn't look up and kept her eyes focused on her shopping list.

"Thanks for the offer, Mimi, but I sort of had a full schedule planned. Wenceslas is due for a standard check-up at the vet's and they said they might have room for Maya as well, we're running a bit low on food, so I'll need to head out to do some shopping, Roger mentioned something about running low on AZT yesterday, so I'll need to go down to the clinic for refills, and I need to squeeze in a trip to the drug store for some insulin… and prenatal vitamins."

"Wow, that really _is_ a…." Mimi stopped in mid-sentence as Emily's final words sank in. "What did you…? Emily, are you _kidding me_?!" Finally, Emily looked up, with a slow smile stretching across her face.

"Just found out yesterday." Mimi let out an excited shriek, hugging her friend.

"Oh, Emily, congratulations! Does Mark know yet?"

"That's why we were… celebrating last night."

"Why didn't you say anything about it earlier!?" Mimi pretended to scold Emily. "We're his or her aunts and uncles! We have a right to know."

"Mimi, come on," Emily laughed. "Mark and I were planning on telling you guys tonight, down at the Life. That way, you'd all hear at the same time. Can you imagine how Maureen would react if she was the last to find out? We were going to wait until everyone was together to avoid that scene." Grinning, Mimi once again hugged Emily in excitement before noticing that Mark wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Speaking of Mark, where is he?"

"He and Penny went off to a pumpkin patch to select pumpkins to carve up for Halloween."

"And did Roger go with them?" Emily suddenly frowned.

"Isn't he still in bed?"

"No, he's not. Why?"

"Well, Mark and I haven't seen him since last night. I thought he was still sleeping."

"Do you mean you and Mark didn't see him today at _all_?" Mimi was quickly growing concerned.

"I just told you we didn't." Mimi collapsed into a chair, her face pale with worry.

"What if he didn't come home at all?" Mimi whispered in fear.

"What do you mean?"

"Robbie called late last night, and Roger went out to help him with some emergency. Emily, what if something happened to him? What if he got mugged, or ran into the Man, and he took his anger over loosing me as a customer out on Roger?" For a brief moment, equal concern appeared on Emily's face, but she quickly brushed it aside.

"Mimi, I'm sure he's fine," she assured. "Roger probably just was too tired to make the trip back home after helping Robbie with the emergency and crashed at his place for the night.

"You think so?"

"I'm sure that's what happened. We can even call up Robbie and ask him." Emily crossed the room to the phone and dialed Robbie's number. However, she was rewarded by almost fifteen rings, and no answer. Sighing, Emily hung up and turned to Mimi. "Remind me to talk him into buying an answering machine, or at least get him to make Rupert and Jerry learn to answer the phone when it rings."

"So, I take it Robbie's sleeping," Mimi concluded.

"Most likely. Come on, get your coat. We're heading down in person." Nodding, Mimi quickly stepped into the bedroom to grab her leopard skin coat while Emily secured Rodolfo in his carrier before writing a quick note for Mark and Penny, in case they got back home before she and Mimi did.

* * *

Robbie was sprawled out on his water bed, muttering something under his breath, with an issue of _Rolling Stone_ draped over his face.

"Hey, Dad!" Rupert tugged on Robbie's arm. "Wake up!" Robbie mumbled something incoherent and simply rolled over.

"Dad!" Jerry jumped up on the bed, shaking him as hard as he could. "Dad!"

"Wazzamadder?" Robbie groaned, opening his eyes and scratching the back of his neck.

"Start talking, Robbie," Mimi ordered, her hands on her hips. Instantly, Robbie was fully alert.

"Oh, hey, Mimi, Emily. Aw, and little Rodolfo's here, too! Should I break out the snacks?"

"Robbie, just tell me where Roger is," Mimi spoke sternly.

"Roger? He's not here."

"So, he _did_ leave your place last night?" Emily asked.

"What are you girls talking about? Roger wasn't here last night."

"Spare me the sh-t," Mimi demanded. "_You_ were the one who called him up around three in the morning, talking about some emergency." Robbie frowned in confusion, looking from Mimi to Emily.

"Mimi, I don't know what you're talking about," Robbie replied. "I never called Roger. Honestly, I didn't." Mimi's sternness vanished, seeing the genuine honestly on Robbie's face.

"You _didn't_ call him last night?"

"No, I didn't."

"But then… where'd he go?" Mimi dropped to a sitting position on Robbie's bed, her shock and worry making it impossible for her legs to support her as a terrible fear hit her. "Sh-t, you don't think… you don't think he might be using again, do you?"

"No!" Robbie and Emily adamantly replied in unison.

"Mimi, trust me," Robbie insisted. "Roger's through with that stuff."

"Besides, he'd _never _do that to you," Emily agreed.

"Then why is he not back home yet?" Mimi asked desperately.

"I don't know. But we'll find him."

* * *

Hours passed by. The Bohemians had called up everyone who had even the smallest connection to Roger, but to no avail. No one had seen him since he'd left the Condo during the night. Over at the window, Mimi was close to tears, and Joanne and Collins doing their best to comfort her while Maureen held Rodolfo. Nana was also there to see if there was anything she could do to help out. Rupert and Jerry were sitting at the metal table with Penny, being absolutely quiet. In light of the situation, they had no desire for their normal antics. Mark and Robbie were both still out asking around, leaving Emily to speak with Officer Kurtz, who had came over almost immediately after he'd been notified of Roger's disappearance.

"I'll do what I can," Officer Kurtz promised the Bohemians. "But I'm afraid that, until Mr. Davis has been missing for twenty-four hours, there's not much I can do. Especially not now, with most of the force concentrated on what happened to that longshoreman."

"You mean the one who died in the freak accident?" Collins surmised. "No offence, Officer Kurtz, but I don't see how that would take up so much time of you and the other cops." Officer Kurtz rubbed his eyes wearily.

"Well, I suppose I wouldn't be breaking any rules by telling you. I'm sure it'll leak out to the public sooner or later."

"Tell us what?" Penny spoke up, curiosity taking hold.

"Well," Officer Kurtz began to explain. "You do realize that, when a dead body is found, the police need copies of autopsy reports for their files. When I went down to get the autopsy for the longshoreman, Dr. Jordan told me personally something rather strange that the autopsy revealed about the cause of death. That longshoreman was completely drained of blood. And the only visible injuries were two puncture wounds, where the neck meets the shoulder."

At that moment, a sudden cry escaped from Nana's throat. The elderly Asian woman was staring at Officer Kurtz, completely pale.

"Nana, what is it?" Emily cried, tangible concern toward the woman who'd raised her etched on her face. Nana did not answer Emily, but continued to stare at Officer Kurtz.

"Kevin," she whispered finally. "_Please_ tell me you didn't just say what I thought you said."

* * *

In a cool, drafty room in Belvedere Castle, the vampire, who was known as Kain, stood by impassively, gazing intently at the multiple bone white candles, the only light source within the room. This place would do quite nicely as his home.

As Kain absorbed himself in his musings, a low groan was emitted from the still form lying on the floor behind him. Kain turned to the figure, smiling cruelly.

"So, you've finally awoken, have you?" he smirked as the figure slowly got to his feet. "Very good. Step into the light, and let your master look at you." Without a word, the second individual stepped forward, the candlelight flickering across Roger's face. At first glance, he was the same as ever, still retaining his handsome features. But if someone looked closer, they'd see that that there was now a sinister shadow cast over his face, and the caring green eyes that once gave off nothing but warmth were gone, replaced by pitiless red orbs against a yellow sclera. When Roger took a breath, the newly formed fangs in his mouth were clearly displayed. Kain proceeded to circle the tainted Roger, admiring his new servant.

"I was right. You were indeed perfect for the role I required of you. The darkness in your heart and soul fueled the transformation perfectly." Kain stopped circling Roger and looked him straight in the face. "Listen to me, my servant. The being you once were is no more. You are no longer the mortal who bore the name Roger Davis. That identify is nothing to you. You are, from this day on, known only as Crimson. Do you understand?"

"Yes," came the emotionless reply.

"How do you feel, Crimson?"

"Hungry." Kain's cold smile widened as he took note of the menacing growl that had rumbled in the newly-christened Crimson's throat.

"Good, good," Kain nodded in satisfaction. "Let that hunger grow, Crimson. For tonight, your first hunt will commence. Until then, conserve your energy."

"As you wish, Master." Crimson sank back into the shadows to await nightfall.


	7. First Hunt

Benny sat at his desk in the Grey's office building, packing up some of the papers he needed into a manila folder. He and Mr. Grey were meeting with some new investors in five minutes. As Benny closed the folder and started to get up from the desk, the phone started ringing.

"Mr. Coffin," he greeted. "Oh, hello, Allison. No, I didn't forget. I'll be home right after the meeting. Okay, I'll see you then. I love you, too. Bye." Benny hung up with a smile on his face before glancing up at the clock. He'd better leave now if he wanted to make it in time for the meeting. Tucking the folder filled with the needed files under his arm, Benny exited his office and proceeded down the hall. However, as he neared the end of the hall, he heard the sound of an argument around the corner. And one of the voices sounded very familiar. Barely believing that he'd be here, Benny turned the corner, confirming his suspicion. From the looks of it, one of his subordinates at work was attempting to throw a pair of young men out. One of them Benny knew only by face, not by name, and remembered seeing him on stage as part of Roger's old pre-heroin band. But he'd never have any trouble recognizing Mark.

"Listen, you two," the subordinate was saying. "You can't just come running in here and expect to see Mr. Coffin just like that."

"But you don't understand," the band member was saying. "We need to see him right now. It's important."

"Mr. Coffin is a busy man, and he's due at a meeting, one that is far more important then anything _you'd _have to say."

"Mark?" Benny took that moment to interrupt, walking up to the three arguing men. "What's going on?"

"It's Roger," Mark explained. "He left the Condo late last night, saying Robbie had called him up."

"Even though I never did," Robbie added.

"Anyway, he never came back home, and now no one knows where he is," Mark concluded.

"Hasn't he contacted Mimi at least?" Benny frowned in concern for his old friend.

"That's why we're so worried. No one's heard from him at all." Benny winced internally, remembering. This was just how it started when Mimi had disappeared, after Angel had died and Roger ran off to Santa Fe. But this time, there was one major difference. Roger didn't have any obvious motive for disappearing. Last he'd checked, Roger had been quite happy with his life, and with his family.

"What can I do?" Benny asked finally.

"We're trying to find Roger in any place he would normally be," Robbie clarified.

"In that case," Benny announced, "I'm coming with you."

"Mr. Coffin!" the subordinate suddenly cried out, aghast. "Mr. Grey is counting on you at the meeting."

"You can tell him that I'm sorry, but something important came up," Benny insisted.

"_This meeting_ is important," the subordinate argued. Benny stood firm for a moment, fixing the subordinate with a piercing stare.

"Buisness and meetings were my top priority before," he replied finally. "And it nearly cost me something more important. You may tell Mr. Grey that I had a valid excuse for missing this meeting, and that I'll make up the time later, when you deliver these papers for me." Without another word, Benny pushed the manila folder into the subordinate's hand and followed Robbie and Mark to the elevator.

* * *

The stars that would have been shining brightly that night were completely obscured by the dark rain clouds that sent torrents of water pouring down to the city streets. The light of the streetlamps cast their luminescence on the rapidly forming puddles on the pavement. Because of the weather, the sidewalks were deserted, apart from one teenaged boy heading home from a late night out with his buddies. The boy jogged down the street, using a newspaper as an umbrella, his feet sending up splashes of water that drenched the legs of his pants. He was unaware of the two ominous figures surveying his nightly amble from the rooftops.

Kain sneered at the boy before turning to Crimson, who was watching the hapless boy intently, the way a hungry wolf would watch a deer.

"Crimson," Kain spoke authoritatively. "This will be your first hunt, so it is very important you make it yours."

"I understand, Master," Crimson nodded, waiting until the boy was in front of an alleyway before he leapt off the roof, flying like a jet toward the unsuspecting boy. Within seconds, Crimson collided with his victim, sending the two of them back into the alley as the boy let out a startled cry. Crimson effortlessly pinned his hunt to the ground, feeling a twisted satisfaction from seeing the unparalleled fear in the boy's face at the sight of his attacker. The terror that was given off from the struggling victim intensified the smell of his blood, making Crimson's hunger grow even stronger. Relishing in the boy's tangible horror and his pathetic struggles, Crimson bent down, sinking his fangs deep into his prey's neck. Immediately, the warmth of the boy's blood flowed into Crimson's mouth, drenching his tongue in its strong, sticky taste. The struggles of the boy were growing feebler by the moment, until, with a shuttering gasp, the body went limp. Finished with his feeding, Crimson returned to his feet, wiping away a small trickle of the ruby liquid that had escaped his mouth to flow down the corner of his stained lips. Crimson's tongue darted out to lick away the blood from his finger. Turning, he saw Kain at the entrance to the alley, watching with approval.

"You are becoming more of a find every moment, Crimson," Kain complemented. "I have never seen such a fast learner."

"Thank you, Master," Crimson accepted the praise. "Where do we feed next?"

"Wherever you like," Kain waved an arm toward the city in an invitation to go off. "This is a large city, Crimson. There are plenty of mortals out there for the both of us to feed to our satisfaction. But be sure to be back before dawn."

"I will be," Crimson smiled, filled with anticipation for his free rein on the city.

* * *

Mark made his way out of the subway station in poor spirits. He, Robbie and Benny had searched everywhere, but to no avail. At ten thirty, they had to call off the search for the night, and Benny and Robbie had both went to their separate homes, with Robbie accepting Mark's offer to let Rupert and Jerry stay at the Condo for the night, since it was so late and because the boys were probably both asleep by now anyway.

As Mark made the journey back to the Condo, he tried to prepare himself to break the news to Mimi that they hadn't found any sign of Roger. He couldn't stand to see his friend this worried and devastated. He hoped he and Emily could get her calm enough for her to get at least some sleep. He remembered when it had been Mimi who had been missing. Roger had barely slept that whole time, and was out looking nearly every second. The only time he'd give in and get some rest is when the others would promise they'd be looking while he slept.

"Roger, you better be okay, for Mimi and Rodolfo's sakes if nothing else," Mark muttered, half to himself, and half to the night, as he entered the building to head up to the Condo, unaware that he had just been targeted by the figure in the shadows who had followed him from the subway stop.


	8. Breaking the Chains

Emily draped a blanket over the sleeping Mimi. The dancer had gotten so wound up over Roger's disappearance, she'd overtired herself and fell asleep on the couch. And Nana's ramblings hadn't helped improve things, either. Emily gave out a deep sigh, feeling a fresh wave of exasperation toward the elderly Asian woman. Why did she have to start up with that nonsense when they were already worried enough?

**Flashback**

"Kevin," Nana whispered. "Please tell me you didn't just say what I thought you'd said."

"Is there a problem?" Officer Kurtz asked.

"You can't mean you haven't figured out what's going on!" Nana cried urgently. "The wounds on the neck! Being drained of blood! And of course the fact he died while unloading crates from Romania! Don't you realize that's the heart of vampire country?!"

"Wait," Maureen frowned in confusion. "Are you saying you think a _vampire_ killed that longshoreman?"

"Oh, please," Emily groaned. "We don't have time for this horse bunk right now."

"It's not horse bunk," Nana insisted. "I don't understand why you refuse to believe…."

"Nana, I haven't believed in your omens, superstitions, and stories since the one you told me when I was ten, about the gremlins that made off with my Yogi Berra autographed baseball, remember?"

"Well, they did," Nana muttered.

"I'm sorry, Nana," Officer Kurtz pulled his hat onto his head. "But I'm afraid that blaming the death on vampires won't be seen as valid at the station, not without concrete proof." The cop sent an apologetic frown towards Mimi. "Mrs. Davis, if Mr. Davis hasn't contacted you by tomorrow morning, please give me a call and I'll do whatever I can. Until then, it'll have to be up to you."

"Thanks anyway," Mimi whispered as Officer Kurtz left.

"We'd better continue looking for Roger, too," Collins decided. After Maureen had returned Rodolfo to Mimi, she left with Collins and Joanne to start searching the city for their friend. Seconds later, Nana headed to the door as well.

"I'll be heading back home," she announced. "_You _may not believe me, Emily, but I _know_ there's a vampire out there right now. I'll need to gather some of my protective charms."

"Fine. Whatever you say, Nana," Emily groaned, taking a seat next to Mimi, rubbing the Latina's back in an attempt to comfort her. Once Nana had left, Penny got up from the metal table, with Rupert and Jerry following her.

"Mimi?" Penny began. "I'm sure Roger's fine, and that he'll come home safe."

"Yeah, she's right," Jerry agreed confidently. "He's Roger, isn't he?" The smallest of smiles appeared on Mimi's face, showing her gratitude for the children's attempts at assuring her.

"Thanks, you three," Emily copied Mimi's tiny smile. "Why don't you head upstairs? I'm sure you have homework that needs to be done. You're all in the same math class, after all." The children obediently headed upstairs as Mimi tightened her hold on Rodolfo.

"Emily?" She began softly. "What if… what if Nana's right? Roger could be out there with some vampire running around."

"Mimi, trust me," Emily insisted. "There aren't any vampires. They're just stories. Don't let Nana's stories upset you. There's never anything too them."

"But what about that chupacabra we saw on Mark's film from our trip to Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas? Didn't Nana have stories about them, too?"

"Hey, we have no proof that _was _a chupacabra. Mimi, come on. You're just upsetting yourself even more. We'll find Roger soon, I know it. And he'll be fine."

"Maybe," Mimi agreed reluctantly, a tear falling down her cheek. "I just can't get rid of this feeling that something terrible happened to him."

**End Flashback**

Emily sighed heavily again before deciding to check up on Rodolfo, who had been placed in his crib hours before, leaving Mimi to sleep on the couch with Maya jumping up to curl up at her owner's side. Penny was already asleep upstairs with Rupert and Jerry camped out on a spare mattress. Peering into the crib, Emily found Rodolfo asleep as well.

"Looks like I'm the only one still up," Emily chuckled, reaching in to lightly ruffle Rodolfo's patch of hair. "Can't help envying you, Rodolfo. You're too young to understand what's going on right now. You have no idea your daddy's missing, or how worried your mommy and the rest of us are."

At that moment, Emily heard the door open. Hoping for good news, she stepped out of Roger and Mimi's room to find Mark standing by the door, pulling off his scarf and matching beret with a crestfallen expression on his face.

"No sign of him?" Emily asked, already knowing the answer.

"No. I can't stand this, Emily. This isn't like Roger," Mark muttered, collapsing onto a nearby chair. "He wouldn't just disappear like this and not tell anyone. Something must have happened to him."

"I'm worried, too, Mark," Emily replied, taking a seat next to him, giving him a small hug. "But we need to remember. Roger's tough. I'm sure that, whatever trouble he might have gotten into, he'll manage to get out of it. He wouldn't just give up. Not with Mimi and Rodolfo waiting for him."

"But… what if he's de…?"

"Shhh! Please, don't upset Mimi any more then she already is!" Emily ordered softly, glancing over at the sleeping form on the couch. "Poor girl wore herself out worrying." Mark looked over at Mimi, feeling a fresh wave of sympathy for her. Despite being asleep, Mimi's forehead was still clenched, and she looked terribly in distress. Mark had never seen her this tense, not even when she was awake.

As if she sensed they were looking at her, Mimi shifted and woke up. The moment she noticed Mark had come back, she was up in a sitting position.

"Mark! _Please _tell me you found him!" she begged. Mark lowered his eyes before replying.

"I'm sorry, Mimi. There's just no sign of him anywhere."

"Then where is he?" Mimi cried urgently, her frantic tears returning. "I need him! He can't be gone!" Within seconds, Emily joined Mimi on the couch to wrap her in a comforting hug and provide a shoulder for her to cry on. For a few painful moments, Mimi's sobs were the only sound in the Condo, apart from the rain splattering onto the window. But then, a sudden, threatening hiss was heard. Maya was staring over at the window, her fur standing on end, slowly backing away while hissing at some unseen danger.

"What's wrong with her?" Mark wondered out loud. Almost immediately after this had been said, a powerful gust of wind blew the window wide open, bringing in a wave of rain water. The power of the wind knocked over the table lamp, which shattered on the floor, throwing the room into near darkness. After checking to see if Emily and Mimi were okay, Mark turned to shut the window. However, he stopped at the sight of the figure crouching on the ground near the open window, partially obscured by the shadows. As Mark watched, the figure rose to full height, an act that made the filmmaker take a cautious step forward. He'd know that silhouette anywhere.

"Emily? Turn on the kitchen light," Mark called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of the intruder. In the quiet that followed, he heard Emily make her way to the kitchen as Mimi came up to his side, also staring at the figure in shadows. A second later, the kitchen light came on, revealing the identity of the stranger. Mimi instantly let out a strangled gasp.

"Roger!" she cried, running up to hug him in relief. "Oh, Roger! Baby! Where were you?!" However, to everyone's surprise, Roger reached out and grabbed Mimi's wrists roughly as she got near, and held her arms firmly over her head. Mimi looked straight up at Roger's face in hurt and confusion. But those emotions were quickly replaced by sudden fear at the sight of the red eyes that were looking back at her coldly.

"Roger, what are you doing?!" Mark cried in alarm.

"My name," the reply came in a cold snarl, "is Crimson." Mimi flinched at the sound of the unfeeling tone to her lover's voice. But her trepidation skyrocketed when her eyes fell on the twin fangs that filled his mouth.

"Oh, God!" Mimi moaned in shock. "Nana! She was _right _about what killed the longshoreman! And the vampire...it got Roger, too!" Immediately, Crimson tightened his grasp on Mimi's wrists, bringing his face very close to hers, making it possible for the dancer to smell the blood on his breath.

"Roger, let her go!" Mark yelled. "It's us, remember? We're your friends! Don't do this." Crimson ignored Mark's words, pinning Mimi against the wall instead, his fangs bared.

"Roger, please," Mimi begged. "Please, stop."

"Roger is dead," Crimson hissed. "I am Crimson." Before Crimson could move, Mark, on pure instinct, charged forward and latched himself onto his tainted friend's back, attempting to put him in a head lock. The unexpected attack successfully drew Crimson's attention away from Mimi, but it had now shifted over to Mark instead. The filmmaker had always known Roger could always outmuscle him, but being a vampire seemed to amplify the musician's strength. With little effort, Crimson had peeled Mark off his back, and easily threw him hard against the wall.

"Mark!" In an instant, Emily was at his side, holding him protectively and staring up at Crimson in alarm.

"Emily, what are you doing?" Mark spoke urgently, clutching her arm to try and pry her off. "Get out of here, now!"

"Not without you," Emily replied flatly, tightening her hold on Mark. Crimson was now moving toward them, with the clear intention of feeding on them both, the red eyes showing no trace of mercy. But when he was an inch away from the Mark and Emily, Mimi's voice suddenly cried out.

"Roger, please forgive me for this!" she yelled, stepping in between her infected husband and her friends. In a rapid motion, she raised her hand and slapped him hard in the face. The sound of the slap seemed to echo through the room, revealing it as the kind of slap that you should_ really_ feel. But Crimson didn't even bat an eye at the slap. Instead, he glared coldly down at Mimi, and before anyone could do anything, he'd advanced at her.

As Mimi tried to back away, she tripped over the lamp that had fallen earlier and fell to the ground. In a flash, Crimson was hovering over her, his hands pinning her arms to the ground brutally. A small whimper escaped from Mimi's throat, which tensed up as Crimson opened his mouth, exposing his fangs. Fighting back the hopeless tears that threatened to fall, Mimi squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prepare for the sharp pain of the fangs piercing her neck, and forcing herself to remember Roger the way he had been before, his smile, his laugh, his loving green eyes, how he'd hold her in his strong arms when she'd had a nightmare while softly singing to her and whispering words of love into her ear….

As Mimi focused on those thoughts, she suddenly realized that it had been almost half a minute, and she still hadn't felt the fangs pierce her skin. She risked opening an eye a tiny crack. What she saw made both of her eyes fly open in surprise. Crimson was still hovering over her, but his face was no longer cruel and hard. Instead, it looked as if he was in tormented pain. His brow was furrowed, and his eyes were completely anguished. Now that she was aware of it, she could even feel him shaking.

"Roger?" Mimi asked timidly, hardly daring to believe what she was seeing.

"Muh….Meeee… Mim…Mimi…." Roger's voice was rough and gravelly, and made him sound close to tears. "N…no….Won't….can't… do…this."

"Roger!" Mimi cried in shock as he managed to release his hold on her arms.

"Lo…love…you…Mimi." Roger forced the words out. "Can't….can't…hurt… you." As everyone stared in surprise, Roger backed away, clutching his head in pain as he fought the internal battle. After a moment, he let out a terrible cry and collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily. Hesitating only briefly, Mimi slowly approached Roger and crouched down at his side. When she placed a cautious hand on his back, Roger's head shot up. Mimi drew back slightly, but quickly got a hold of herself when she took note of his eyes. They were still the vampiric red, but this time, they were anything but cold and hard.

"Mimi," Roger whispered.

"I'm here, Roger." Mimi gave a small smile. Roger stared at her intently for a moment before giving a small shutter, raising a finger to touch the fangs that still remained in his mouth. Immediately, he gave a sudden sob.

"No," Roger choked, turning to look at everyone in turn. "What… what was I…? I could have… I was really gonna…" Realizing what he was trying to say, Mimi gathered Roger to her, cradling his head in her arms.

"It's okay," she comforted. "It doesn't matter now."

"Yes, it _does_!" Roger choked through the guilt-induced tears that were now falling down his cheeks. "I wanted to…I could have…Oh, _Meems_!" Mimi held Roger closer as he broke down even further. It wasn't long before Mark and Emily had joined her in embracing their friend.

Not too long ago, their main concern was locating Roger. But now they were faced with a new series of problems. The utmost of these was if there was some way they could return Roger to normal. But for now, that didn't matter. For the moment, he was back and safe, for the most part. For the moment, nothing else was important.


	9. You Don’t Know What it’s Like

The Bohemians sat in silence around the Loft, occasionally glancing over at Roger who was on the couch with Mimi cuddled next to him, holding on to him as if he'd disappear if she loosened her grip. Everyone was too uncomfortable to risk speaking, but it wasn't like they had something to say anyway. Coming up with a comprehensible sentence was always a difficult undertaking when you had to deal with your close friend becoming a vampire.

In the aftermath of Roger regaining control of his mind, Mark had called up everyone to tell them everything. Collins, Maureen, Joanne, Robbie and Nana had all came over to confirm what Mark had told them. Benny had not yet been reached, since he was most likely trying to smooth things over with Allison and Mr. Grey for running off when he did. The Bohemians were going to try and call him again in the morning. As for the children, Penny, Rupert,and Jerry, they were still upstairs sleeping. It was a unanimous decision to wait until morning to explain things to them.

At the current time, the only sounds in the room were coming from the news broadcast that was being shown on television.

"The body of a young man, Ralph Olson, was found along Ninth Avenue and West 45th Street two hours ago, in a similar state to the longshoreman who was found dead yesterday night. Whether or not there is any connection …"

"Turn it off." Roger spoke with such a rough voice, everyone in the room jumped. After the shock of hearing Roger speak wore away, Mark complied with his best friend's wish. But even after the television had been switched off, the musician still looked shaken.

"_I_ did that," he whispered after a lengthy pause. "That guy, Ralph Olson. That was me. I… I fed on him, right before I came here to do the same to…."

"It wasn't your fault, Rog," Collins comforted while Mimi tightened her hold on her husband. "You… you weren't yourself."

"But I knew what I was doing," Roger argued. "Everything I did. I was aware of everything I did. And if I hadn't been able to regain control of myself when I did, I might have killed Mimi, Mark and Emily."

"The important thing is that you _did _regain control of your mind, Roger," Joanne reasoned.

"Yeah," Roger sighed heavily, placing his forehead in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees. "But that doesn't change what I _could _have done."

"I really don't think that's something to keep brining up," Mark snapped suddenly. "No offence, Roger, but you're not the _only _one here who found that whole experience horrible."

"Mark, you know I'm _really _sorry about the things I did," Roger apologized before looking worried. "When… when I threw you, I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?"

"No, I'm fine, but that's not what I was talking about."

"You're not still upset that I didn't run when you told me to, are you?" Emily asked.

"Well, can you blame me?" Mark cried. "Fu-k, Emily! I told you to run because I didn't want to see you killed tonight, or die knowing you'd be next. I promised your brother, and myself, that I'd do whatever I could to protect you, if you'd remember."

"So, after all the times you were there for me, you seriously expected me to just up and run, leaving you behind? I thought you knew me better then that, Mark Cohen!" Emily fired back. "Tell me, what would I have gained if I had listened to you and just abandoned you? A life without you? Fat chance!"

"And what about the baby?!" Mark shouted back. "Did you even think about how his or her survival depends on yours?"

"The baby?" Collins' eyes widened. "Whoa, Emily, girl! You mean….?"

"Yeah," Emily nodded, lowering her eyes, consciously aware that everyone in the room was now looking at her. "Mark and I were planning on telling you all at the Life over dinner. But then Roger went missing, and…."

It just didn't seem like the right time," Mark finished.

"Congratulations," Roger spoke flatly, wishing he could have heard the news in a better situation. Once again, an uneasy silence filled the Loft. This time, it was broken by Nana.

"Roger? If you don't mind me asking, do you remember the name of the vampire who attacked you?" Roger took a moment before answering.

"Kain," he replied finally. "He… he said that he had many names, but… when he…after I was…attacked, I got a lot of his thoughts and memories in my head. The name that stood out the most was Kain."

"But what's that got to do with anything?" Maureen questioned.

"When you get as old as I am, Maureen," Nana explained, "you'll learn that _nothing _is unimportant. Especially in matters such as this. Who's to say there wouldn't be some useful information on Kain in at least one of the books I've collected through the years? I'm sure I'll be able to find something while I'm looking for a possible way to revert Roger back to his previous state."

"Well, why'd you want to?" Maureen inquired. "I mean think about it. I used to watch vampire movies when I was a teenager. I have some idea of some of the stuff you can do. You have much stronger senses, you're faster, you can jump up so much higher then a human, and you can heal faster. You're like a superhero! Why'd you want to give _that _up?" Roger abruptly stood up, turning to Maureen with a piercing stare.

"You have no idea what it's really like, do you?" he whispered. "You _couldn't _know. Before tonight, I thought withdrawal was the most agonizing experience I'd ever go through. But this… it's like withdrawal, but at the same time, it's so much worse. Because when you're going through withdrawal, no matter how much pain you're in, you know, deep down, that it'll pass. But this isn't just going to pass like withdrawal. If I stay like this, it'll be permanent. It's taking every last bit of self control I've got to keep myself from feeding on you. If you were here earlier, you would have had some idea of how unbearable this is. I even attacked Mimi and Mark! I didn't even know my own wife, or my best friend! I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Not even the Man." Maureen stared open-mouthed as she listened to Roger's explanation, and when he finished, she couldn't find the strength to speak.

"Roger," Mimi stood up and wrapped her arms around him, holding him as tight as she could. "It'll be okay, Roger. We'll find some way to fix this." Roger let out a sudden breath, reaching out to rest a hand on the back of her head. This had been the first time she'd spoken since he'd regained control of his mind. For a full minute, the other Bohemians kept a respectful distance, allowing them to have this moment. But Roger suddenly pulled back, looking very worried about something.

"What time is it?" he hissed.

"It's a little after six," Joanne announced, checking her watch. Immediately, Roger was making his way to the window.

"I have to go!" he stated, opening the window.

"No!" Mimi was at his side in an instant, gripping his arm. "Roger, please! We just got you back! Please, don't leave me again!" Roger's face contorted with guilt, seeing the hints of tears in her brown eyes.

"Meems," Roger sighed, wrapping her in a strong hug. "You know I'd do _anything _to stay. But the sun's going to come up soon. Remember when I said that some of Kain's memories entered my mind when I was changed? Well, at the same time, I also got some important facts about being a vampire. We need to return to the appointed place before sunrise. There's a reason why Kain has to wear that trench coat getup when he's out during the day. Sunlight's fatal to us. If I'm still here when the sun comes up, I'm dust." Bending slightly, Roger rested his forehead against Mimi's. "I'll be back here when the sun goes down. I promise. Okay?"

"O…okay," Mimi nodded, doing her best to hold back her tears. But when she moved in to kiss him, Roger pulled away again.

"I can't," Roger gasped. "Meems, I can't kiss you. It's too dangerous. If my fangs scratched you… sh-t, Meems, I'm so, so sorry." Mimi nodded in understanding, her eyes extremely over bright.

"Tonight, baby," Roger whispered softly. "I'll see you tonight."

"I love you!" Mimi cried as Roger tuned to leave. Instantly, Roger looked back, gazing at her with great tenderness.

"I love you, too." With that, Roger tore his eyes away and glided off into the quickly fading darkness. Mimi remained by the window, watching him leave, until Collins walked up and wrapped her in a caring hug.

"We'd better get to work," Nana spoke up after a few minutes. "There are a lot of books to cover at my apartment."

"I'll help you look," Emily volunteered.

"And here I thought you saw all of that as horse bunk," Nana teased in an attempt to provide some levity to lighten to mood.

"I suppose you can't be wrong _all _the time," Emily shrugged.

"We'll all help," Mark agreed.

"Guys?" Joanne spoke up. "I… I think we should also figure out what we'll do in the meantime. Finding a cure for Roger might take some time, so until then, there is the problem of… what Roger's going to eat. We can't forget he needs blood to survive."

"Actually," Collins spoke up, still hugging Mimi in comfort. "I think I might have a solution for that."


	10. Hitting a Dead End

The moon shone down on Belvedere Castle where Kain was standing silently, being joined by Roger soon afterwards.

"Have you had your fill of rest, Crimson?" Kain asked without turning around.

"Yes, Master," Roger replied. For everyone's sake, he thought it was best that Kain didn't find out he'd regained control over his mind. At least, not yet. "Are we going to feed soon?"

"Yes, by all means," Kain chucked cruelly. "You will need to be at full strength on All Hallows Eve, if you are to take your part in the preordained events."

"Events?" Roger asked, doing his best to keep his expression neutral.

"Now, all in good time, Crimson. I'll reveal it all to you at the right time. For now, go off and feed to your liking."

"Thank you, Master," Roger nodded, flying off in one direction while Kain went off in another. Once Kain was out of sight, however, Roger changed course, heading to the Condo to keep his promise. As he glided past the city buildings, he began to worry what events Kain was talking about and made a mental note to tell Nana about it. After all, the superstitious woman would most likely know the most about vampires like Kain.

Before long, Roger made his landing outside the window to the Condo. Pushing open the window, he stepped inside. No sooner had he entered the Condo, he felt someone collide with him, pulling him into a tight hug. Roger instantly smiled as he returned the embrace, knowing well who it was before even looking.

"I told you I'd come back after nightfall, Meems," Roger reminded.

"I know. But it still feels like I haven't seen you in years," Mimi whispered, hugging him tighter.

"Yeah. The feeling's mutual." Mimi grinned widely, taking Roger's face in her hands and pulling it toward her. "Mimi, I told you, I can't…."

"Shhh," Mimi instructed, tilting his head to place a large kiss on Roger's forehead. "You may not be able to kiss _me_, Roger Davis, but that doesn't mean I can't kiss _you_."

"You got me there," Roger smiled back, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Hey, welcome back, Roger," Joanne greeted from the couch where the other Bohemians were gathered around. Roger turned to return the greeting, but stopped when he saw Dr. Jordan was also there.

"Oh, hey," Roger acknowledged the doctor. "What brings you here?"

"Your friends called me and told me of your….situation, Mr. Davis," Dr. Jordan replied. "Have you thought about what you plan on sustaining yourself on?" Roger frowned. That's right. He needed blood to survive now. But there was no way he could feed on anyone, not now that he'd gotten his mind back. Dr. Jordan seemed to realize what Roger was thinking, for he went on. "There's no need to worry. Your friend, Collins, came up with a temporary solution for you. That's why I'm here." Dr. Jordan got up from the couch, carrying a red cooler which he set down on the floor next to Roger. When the cooler was open, Roger saw it was filled with IV bags containing blood.

"Are you kidding me?" Roger gaped. "Where'd you…?"

"The hospital keeps plenty of these IV bags in storage," Dr. Jordan explained. "I doubt anyone would notice if a few went missing. Like I said, this is only a temporary solution. I believe your friends were looking through Mrs. Chang's old books, searching for a way to cure you. Until they do, these should be enough to last you for a week or so. And if you run out, I could try and bring more."

"Thanks, Dr. Jordan," Roger smiled slightly.

"Simply doing my job to help people. Now, I hope you'll excuse me. I need to return to the hospital. I'm scheduled to perform a triple bypass tonight, and I need to prepare for that." After Dr. Jordan had left, Roger took a seat on the couch, allowing Mimi to take up her usual place on his lap.

"Thank you, too, Collins," Roger glanced up at the anarchist. "I don't think I'd be able to kill anyone to feed."

"I didn't think you would," Collins pointed out. "And this way, you won't have to." Letting out a sigh, Roger broke open the IV bag to feed. As he fed, Emily walked out of the kitchen, carrying a platter of cookies.

"Since Roger's taking this time to eat," she announced, "this would be a good time to test out this new recipe." As the others selected a cookie to sample, the photographer glanced over at Roger with a smile. "They're chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, and I photocopied the recipe from the library's collection of cooking magazines. When you're back to normal and can eat real food again, Roger, I'll make a special batch for you."

"I'd like that," Roger agreed, letting his eyes close in contentment as Mimi lay her head against his shoulder and snuggled closer to him. In response, he rested his cheek on her head.

For the next few minutes, the Bohemians simply talked and laughed. For a few shining moments, it seemed as if everything was normal, that nothing had changed.

"So, Roger," Maureen spoke up. "I was wondering if you're still interested in going to that Halloween bash over at Tompkins Square Park." At the mention of Halloween, Roger's eyes shot open as he remembered.

"Oh, sh-t!" he hissed. "I forgot! Where's Nana? I need to tell her something."

"She'll be over here soon," Mark explained. "She called a few minutes before you arrived to tell us that she'd be bringing some of her books over, so we can all help her look for a way to get you back to normal."

"Why? What's wrong?" Penny asked.

"Kain. He mentioned some sort of events, and said it would happen on Halloween night. He wouldn't say more about it, but I just have a feeling that whatever it is, it's not going to be good."

"She'll be here soon," Joanne stated confidently. "And I'm sure she'll have some idea."

"I hope so," Roger sighed.

* * *

Kain withdrew his fangs from the body of a young woman, lowering the limp form to the ground. This one had been particularly beautiful. And it was the beautiful ones who had the most delectable blood. Leaving the body where it lay, Kain turned and flew off into the night, feeling his anticipation growing.

It wouldn't be much longer now. All Hallows Eve was approaching fast. And then, the wait would be over. But for now, he needed only to concentrate on feeding. And as luck would have it, there was someone walking completely alone, just waiting to be fed upon. It was another woman, Asian from the looks of her, heading down the street carrying an armload of books, with old shopping bags hanging from her wrists. Unfortunately, she was not as young as he'd have liked. This one was old and brittle, so her blood would most likely be slightly bitter. Still, one could not turn up their nose at such an easy meal.

* * *

The Bohemians continued to talk about random topics in the Condo, waiting for Nana to arrive, when the phone rang.

"I'll get that," Mark volunteered as he got up. "It might be Benny. We couldn't reach him to tell him what happened with Roger, and had to leave a message to call back." The others sat back as Mark answered the phone. However, as Mark listened to the person on the other end, his facial expression showed that something was wrong. When he finally hung up, his face was frozen with shock.

"What?" Mimi asked. "Was it Benny?"

"No," Mark shook his head. "It was St. Vincent's Hospital." Very slowly, the filmmaker turned to look over at Emily.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Did something happen."

"Emily, they… they found Nana along Delancy Street. She's been placed in ICU."

* * *

Within the hour, the Bohemians were congregated by Nana's hospital bed. The elderly woman was lying unconscious, her face completely swollen with two bruises over her eyes, giving her the appearance of a human panda. Emily was sitting in a chair that she'd pushed right next to the bed, pressing Nana's hand to her forehead, looking close to tears. At that moment, Dr. Jordan stepped in, a serious expression on his face.

"Dr. Jordan, is she….?" Penny asked hesitantly.

"She's alive," Dr. Jordan announced. "I can honestly say that she looks a lot worse then she actually is."

"It was Kain," Roger growled, staring at Nana's still form. "I _know _it was him."

"Then it's lucky for her that she was carrying those things in her bags." Dr. Jordan gestured to the shopping bags and books that had been placed in the corner of the room. "She was found with those scattered around the pavement. And this was in her hand." Dr. Jordan held up some sort of medallion. The second he saw it, Roger pushed himself against the wall, putting as much distance between himself and the medallion as possible, sweat coating his forehead.

"I take it that's some sort of anti-vampire charm," Collins theorized. Swallowing once, Roger nodded in confirmation.

"So, Nana's going to be all right?" Mark concluded.

"Yes, she will be," Dr. Jordan replied. "But we need to keep her here until she's completely healed. We can't deny that Mrs. Chang isn't as young as she once was. Injuries like this take a while to heal."

"Thanks, Dr. Jordan," Emily finally spoke up. When the Bohemians were once again left alone with Nana, Joanne selected one of the books from the pile.

"Guess it's up to us now," she said, flipping through the pages. "Nana might pull through, but it doesn't look as if she'll be well enough to offer us any advice on fighting Kain any time soon. We'd best start reading up ourselves."

"First thing's first," Mimi spoke up. "We planned on finding a cure for Roger, remember? That's why Nana was coming over in the first place. We should do that first." Joanne simply nodded and continued skimming over a few pages, with the others joining her in the search through Nana's books almost immediately.

"I found something!" Penny announced after ten minutes of silence, pointing to the index of one book. "It says right here! 'Curing', on page 275!" Emily took the book from her daughter and turned to the right page. For a moment, Emily read the page in silence.

"Well?" Maureen urged. "What do we do?" Emily didn't reply, and just stared at the page with a blank expression. Suddenly, she slammed the book shut.

"It's nothing, forget about that one," she announced, sounding frustrated and angry at the same time. "We just need to find another way."

"What if there _isn't _one?" Mark challenged. "It might be our only option of getting Roger back to normal."

"No, we're not going there," Emily rounded on him, nearly shouting. "It won't come to that. We'll just have to find some other way."

"What did it say, Emily?" Roger demanded to know.

"It doesn't matter," Emily shook her head, avoiding looking at Roger. "Because it won't come to that."

"Emily." Roger's voice was now holding the strong hint of a direct order. "What did the book say?" After a long pause, with everyone looking at the photographer, Emily finally faced Roger, a few tears spilling down her cheeks.

"It said… the only way to cure a vampire…. is to cut out their heart, and burn it."


	11. Brotherly Discourse

**AN:** This is the last chapter before the build-up to the climax of the story. And, as you'll be able to see as you read, three days have passed since Nana crossed paths with Kain, and the Bohemians learned of the objectionable cure for Roger. Now, on with the story.

* * *

Kain was slumped against the wall in his room inside Belvedere Castle, nursing the blistered burns on the palms of his hands. Curse that old woman! Where'd she ever find that anti-vampire charm? How could she have known to carry it around, when so many mortals believed his kind to be nonexistent? Still, he had some satisfaction that he'd managed to dispose of her before he'd returned to tend to his wounds. A woman that old wouldn't have been able to recover from being blown against the side of a building like that. And his wounds were nearly healed. He should be completely back to full strength by the time All Hallows Eve arrived.

It was a slight inconvenience that Crimson had appeared to have disappeared three nights ago, the same night he'd ran into that accursed woman. Perhaps she'd crossed paths with Crimson earlier that night and destroyed him with the anti-vampire charm. Crimson, being as inexperienced as he was, wouldn't have been able to withstand the attack as well. That was a shame. Crimson had been most promising, but it was no true loss. After all, Kain could handle things just as well without an aid. It wouldn't be completed as quickly, but in the end, it would be done regardless. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

Fallen leaves were kicked up by the thin tires as Mark pedaled his bike through Greenwood Cemetery, creating small arcs of reds, browns, and golds, accompanied by a snapping, crinkling sound as the leaves were crushed under the weight of the bicycle. As he rode past the gravestones and mausoleums, he wondered if he was right about finding him here, and hoped he knew him as much as he'd believed. After a short time, he reached his destination. Mark stopped and got off the bike, propping it against the sign posted in front of the stone chapel. Letting out a silent sigh, Mark paused to read the sign.

The Green-Wood Chapel

Open Daily for Rest, Mediation, and Prayer

_Open for mediation. Yeah, that sounds like the kind of place he'd be hiding out in_, Mark thought, as he turned from the sign and quietly entered the chapel. He was relieved to find no one else was there at the moment. It would be almost impossible to do this if there were any bystanders.

In silence, Mark walked further into the chapel, his footsteps echoing through the deserted building. As he reached the center of the chapel, something caught his eye. Crouching down, he discovered a few dead pigeons, lying in a small pile hidden beneath one of the pews.

"So," Mark called out to the empty chapel. "You've been surviving off pigeons, I see."

"Well, it's not as if anyone would notice if a few pigeons went missing," Roger replied from a shadowy corner, where his face was shrouded by the darkness. "New York's got an endless supply of them." For a long moment, the two stood looking at one another. Finally, Roger broke the silence.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"We've known each other since preschool, Roger. Give me some credit," Mark replied as both boys displayed faint smiles.

"And I suppose you're here to try and talk me into coming back," Roger stated.

"And why not?" Mark challenged. "Roger, come on. It's been three days since you've been home. Three days since you even tried to meet with or talk to us."

"Mark, please. That's enough," Roger hissed, turning away. "You know I can't. You were there in Nana's hospital room. You know there's only that one way to get me back to normal. What about you, Mark? Do _you _have the backbone to do that? Could you cut out my heart?"

"You know the answer to that," Mark replied.

"Yeah, I do. And I can't see anyone else willing to do it, either." Roger was quiet for a moment. "If you knew I was here, did you tell anyone else?"

"I shouldn't have to be the one to tell them. That should be _your _job. Roger, just come home, will you? You have to realize we're all worried about you, and want you back."

"And then what?" Roger fired back. "No one's gonna be able to go through with the cure in Nana's book. We've decided that much. So, if that's the only cure, then I'm going to be like this forever. I've already told you how it takes all my self control to keep myself from feeding on you. How do you think I'd feel if I relapsed, just for a moment, and I snap out of it only to find I've killed you, or one of the others? This is the only solution. I have to keep as much distance between myself and everyone else. It's the only way I can make sure I don't turn on anyone."

"What about Mimi?" Mark snapped. "Don't her feelings fit into the equation at all? You must know how much she misses you and wants you back home. Please, Roger. Come home. For her sake, if nothing else." Even though the musician was partially hidden in the shadows, Mark could see Roger's expression shift at the mention of Mimi. For a brief moment, the filmmaker hoped he'd pushed the right chord.

"Mimi deserves more then being forced to live her life married to an undead creature, who only survives by feeding off the living." Roger whispered after a lengthy pause. "She deserves someone who can kiss her _without_ worrying about harming her. Someone who can be by her side in the park, sharing picnics in the _sunlight_. Someone who can _show_ her how much he loves her. And I can't do any of that. Not anymore."

"Have you forgotten what the two of you promised when you married each other?" Mark cried in frustration and anger. "'For better or for worse,' remember? Don't you think this would qualify?" At that moment, Roger shot out of his hiding place, jetting upward and taking up a different perch up in the chapel steeple. There he sat, with his back facing Mark.

"You never change, do you?!" Mark shouted up at him. "You're always running out the door, when the people who care about you need you the most! Why did I _ever _think you'd have changed after you came back from Santa Fe?" Roger kept his back to Mark, but he could still hear him storm out of the chapel and ride his bike away from the cemetery. As he sat in silence, Mark's words echoing through his mind, a single tear flowed down his cheek, a sign of the effect the brotherly discourse had had on him.


	12. An Unseen Ally

"Allison, I can only say 'I'm sorry' so many times," Benny sighed, glancing down at his wife who was sitting on the bed with her arms folded. "And my transgression was weeks ago now."

"You still promised me you'd come home right after the meeting with my father," Allison pointed out. "But not only did you not come home until after ten, you also skipped out of the meeting."

"I told you what happened," Benny exclaimed. "An old friend of mine had gone missing, without contacting anyone. I was worried about him, and wanted to help find him."

"Isn't finding lost people a job for the police?" Allison debated.

"Allison, if one of your friends suddenly went missing without any reason, wouldn't you have done the same thing?" Allison sighed at Benny's reasoning, giving in a little.

"That still doesn't change the fact that you weren't there for my appointment and missed out on learning that our child's a son." Benny winced slightly. He had promised to be there for Allison's appointment at the ob-gyn, in order to be present for the first ultrasound of their child that would reveal the baby's gender. Taking a seat next to her on the bed, Benny draped an arm around Allison.

"What if I promise to be there for all the ultrasounds from now on?" he asked. "Would that help?"

"It's a start," Allison started to smile.

"Well, what if we go off and do something tonight?" Benny offered. "I heard through the grapevine that there's this little Halloween celebration tonight. If you want, we could always head down there."

"Benny, I haven't celebrated Halloween since I was a child," Allison pointed out.

"Yes, I know. But if we're going to be parents, it might be a good idea to be reintroduced to the holiday."

"I suppose, when you put it that way, we can make an appearance," Allison gave in.

* * *

Mimi sat by the Condo window, looking out at the night sky with Rodolfo in her arms and Maya curled up by her side. She'd taken up a constant vigil by that window for every night that week, in case Roger decided to come back home. She was so absorbed in watching for him that she didn't realize Mark had come up to join her until he'd placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Mimi, I really think you should go tonight," he suggested.

"No, you go ahead, Mark," Mimi shook her head. "I want to stay here. He might come back any moment." Mark winced at Mimi's words. He hadn't told anyone about his attempt to convince Roger to come back home, mostly because it had clearly failed. Yet, Mimi still held to the hope that he'd come home.

"Come on, Mimi," Mark persisted. "You haven't left this window in days. What would Angel say if she could see you refusing to go out? Seriously, Mimi. It'll just be for an hour or two, and you need to get out for a bit, for fresh air anyway. And everyone will be there. Me, Emily, Penny, Collins, Robbie, Maureen and Joanne. But none of us would have a good time if you were still here, sitting alone. And who knows? Roger knows you were planning on going. Maybe he'll be there." Hearing this, Mimi perked up.

"You think he'll be there?" she asked hopefully. Mark paused for a moment. Truthfully, he had to admit the chances of Roger going there were pretty slim. He'd want to distance himself from other people, out of fear that he might end up feeding on one of them. But he thought it was best not to say so. He could never find it in his heart to tell her the truth when she was this buoyant, with how much she loved and missed Roger visible in her face.

"Yeah. I think he would be," Mark lied. The thought of Roger showing up to the Halloween Bash seemed to put some of the normal shine back in Mimi's face.

"I guess, for a few hours," she gave in.

"Good," Mark sighed in relief. "Here, I'll take Rodolfo so you can change into your costume, okay? We can leave right after Emily and Penny get back from visiting Nana."

"I'm surprised you let Emily head down there," Mimi noted, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. "When she was Rodolfo's surrogate mother, you wouldn't even let her head across the street alone. And now, not only is she carrying your son or daughter, there's even Kain on the loose."

"First of all, she's not alone," Mark pointed out. "Collins and Robbie are escorting her and Penny down there. And all four of them have some of Nana's anti-vampire charms. They're all well protected, so I can't be too worried about them. Now hurry up and get changed, okay?"

"Thanks Mark," Mimi gave him a brief friendly hug before disappearing into the room she'd once shared with Roger.

* * *

Roger sat dejected in a dark corner of the Green-Wood Chapel. He'd just woken up not ten minutes ago, and was still shaken. He'd just had the same nightmare he'd been having since Nana had been admitted to the hospital after her run-in with Kain. In the dream, he relived the night when he'd first became a vampire and came to the Condo to feed. But in the nightmare's reality, he hadn't regained control of his mind. Because of that, he had successfully fed on Mark, Emily and Mimi, and had seen the life drain from each of their faces. The nightmare always forced him awake, shaking from the internal pain the dream gave him.

Even stronger then the terror he felt after having that terrible nightmare was the ache he felt in his heart after waking up. What he wanted more then anything was to be able to return home and see his friends, to see Mimi and Rodolfo. But as long as there was the danger that he'd end up feeding on them, there was nothing he could do about it. To top it off, he'd lost track of the days. Judging that hardly any snow had fallen, he guessed it was still fall. Sh-t, he hated the fall. Nothing good had ever happened during that awful season. Loosing Angel three years ago, and now this.

Roger's thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly became aware of a very familiar voice calling him from outside the chapel. Hesitantly, he stepped outside, trying to locate the voice.

"Roger," the voice called again. Instantly, Roger had a horrible flashback to the night Kain had got him and briefly considered ignoring the voice. But this time, the voice was different. He _knew _this voice.

"I'm here," Roger called back, stepping further among the gravestones. "But who are…"

"Roger, what are you doing here?" the voice laughed as the musician wandered through the cemetery. "Didn't you promise your friends that you'd go to the Halloween Bash tonight?"

"Yeah, great idea. I go and put everyone there in danger," Roger shot back sarcastically. "They're safer if I stay far away from them."

"So they're not still in danger from Kain?" the voice asked seriously. "Wasn't he planning some kind of event tonight?"

"Yeah," Roger frowned remembering. "He _did _say something about doing something on Halloween night, but how am I supposed to know what it's supposed to be?"

"Can't you think of anything? A vampire needs to feed off the energy of others to exist, don't they?" the voice reasoned. "Can you think of any place where there would be plenty of people for a vampire to feed on tonight?" Instantly, Roger felt his heart sink in terrible foreboding.

"The Halloween Bash. Kain's going to do something there tonight! But I don't…." Roger froze as he was seized by a deeper fear then the one he had of feeding on some innocent person. "No! Mimi! The guys! They're going to the Halloween Bash, too! That means…. Kain could…."

"They need you, Roger," the voice announced, sounding further away this time. "It's all up to you, now."

"But wait!" Roger called out to the unseen speaker, dashing along the rows of gravestones. "Where are you? You need to explain!" When no one answered, Roger came to a reluctant stop, giving up in trying to catch up to this unseen person. But then, after looking around one last time before leaving, the voice called out once again.

"Hurry, Roger. Your friends don't have much time." Roger had to jump slightly when the voice came from right behind him. But when he spun around, he saw nothing but a simple stone angel looking down at him with a warm smile, one that reminded him of the one that was often seen on Angel's face.

"Couldn't be," Roger gaped, staring at the stone angel. After a brief moment of trying to figure out if his suspicion was correct, Roger decided to put that mystery on hold. Regardless of the identity of his unseen helper, his family was in danger. And that meant there was only one option for him at the moment.**  
**

* * *

**AN:** The story's climax is coming. In fact, I think there will only be four more chapters before it's complete. Although I don't think this chapter turned out quite as well as I'd hoped. Anyway, I'm hoping to have this done in time for Halloween, but we'll have to see if I can meet that deadline. (Crosses fingers)


	13. Kain's Plan

By the time Mark, Emily, Penny, Mimi and Rodolfo arrived at the Halloween Bash, the park was filled with New Yorkers in full costume, all of which were either crowded around a bonfire or wandering around the booths that housed games and food.

"Wow," Penny looked around in amazement. "Even _if _Uncle Roger shows up, it'll be hard to find him in all of this.

"I don't think we'd _have _to find him," Emily pointed out, talking more to Mimi then anyone else. "If he's here, I'm sure he'll find us." Mimi smiled at her friend's attempt to raise her spirits and readjusted her hold on Rodolfo.

"Come on, let's see if we can find the others," Mark suggested. "I'm sure they're here somewhere."

The small family proceeded to explore the Halloween Bash, coming across familiar faces as they went, including Robbie, Rupert and Jerry playing a water gun game, trying to triple their chances of winning by all three playing at once, and an off-duty Officer Kurtz, enjoying caramel apples with his wife and son. After about five minutes of searching, they finally came across Collins, who had clearly met up with Paul earlier, as the two were in the middle of a friendly conversation. It was Paul who noticed them first.

"Hello, everyone," he greeted with a wave. "Enjoying the celebrations?"

"We really just got here," Mark explained. "We've actually been keeping out eyes out for Roger."

"I see. So he still hasn't come home since finding out about the cure?"

"I told him all about the issue with Roger and Kain," Collins explained. "I thought that it was best to tell him the real reason Roger hasn't been going to Life Support recently."

"No, we haven't seen him," Emily answered Paul's question, giving Mimi a sympathetic one-armed hug. "So, if you see him, Paul…."

"I'll let him know you've been looking for him," Paul promised.

"Anyway, have you seen Maureen and Joanne around?" Mark asked, hoping to switch the topic to a less somber one.

"Yeah, they went off into the Haunted House over there," Collins explained, pointing. Pausing, he glanced over at Mimi, who was watching the skies, hoping for a glimpse of Roger. "Mimi, why don't you go check out the Haunted House? Angel used to say the two of you loved going in haunted houses at carnivals."

"We'll all go," Penny added. "Come on, Aunt Mimi. Would Uncle Roger like it if you refused to at least try to have fun tonight? And who knows? He knows you enjoy things like that, too. So if he comes, he'd be looking for you in there."

"All right." Mimi relented. "Collins, could you watch Rodolfo for a bit? He probably wouldn't like it in there."

"No problem," Collins carefully took Rodolfo as Mimi passed him over. "Just promise you'll try to have fun in there." Once Rodolfo had been deposited into Collins' care, the group made their way to the Haunted House.

* * *

Inside, they were greeted with a long corridor lit by strobe lights. Positioned along the corridor were small niches containing corpses in various death poses. A few of the corpses were revealed to be real people when they lunged forward in attempts to scare the Bohemians. After the strobe-lit hall was the infamous 'Spider Web Room', where giant motion-censored spiders would drop down as people walked by, with dummies wrapped up in spider webs attached to the walls. Next was the 'torture chamber', followed by a large room where bloody body bags were suspended from the ceiling.

"I have to say," Mark commented after a while. "I was expecting more of the 'Jumpers'. You know, those people who are supposed to jump out and scare you."

"Yeah. You're right,." Emily agreed. "So far, this is pretty much a…Penny, please don't let go of my hand. I don't want to loose you in here. Penny?" Mark, Emily and Mimi stopped and looked back to see Penny was nowhere in sight.

"Penny?" Mark called out. "Where'd she go?" For the next few minutes, the three of them doubled back to look for the missing preteen. In the middle of searching, Mimi's voice called out in alarm.

"Mark, Emily! Over here, hurry!" The two immediately abandoned the search and made their way over to Mimi. The dancer looked back at them, pale-faced and worried, holding out the hat that had been a part of Penny's hobo costume. With a shaking hand, Emily took the hat from Mimi before dropping to her knees, her cane landing on the floor with a soft clatter. Mark, on the other hand, was completely frozen in shock from Mimi's discovery. After a brief moment, Mark's alarm wore away enough to kneel down and rub Emily's arm in comfort.

"Emily, I'm sure she's around here somewhere," he reasoned.

"Then why won't she answer us?" Emily debated. "What if Kain followed us in here and…"

"Don't even think it!" Mimi demanded. "Isn't it bad enough he got Roger and now he won't even come back home?" Mark and Emily looked away for a second, both sorry for making Mimi think about that.

"I'm sure she's safe in here somewhere," Mimi went on. "We just have to keep looking, that's all." Emily sighed and looked up. But as she did so, her eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Mimi, behind you!" Mimi spun around in time to see the wall behind her stretching out, forming the shape of multiple hands. Before anyone could react, the hands latched on to Mimi's arms and legs, pulling her back into the wall, where she sank into it as if it wasn't even there. Instantly, Mark and Emily lunged forward to try and save her. But the pull of the wall was too strong, and within moments, she was pulled from their grasp.

"That's it. I'm officially freaked out now," Emily announced, her voice shaking from newfound fear while keeping her hands pressed to the wall, as if hoping for a way to reach in to reclaim her friend.

"Yeah," Mark nodded. "That makes the two of us." Moments later, a deep rumbling was heard, and once again, the hands returned, this time from the floor. The hands grabbed hold of Mark and Emily's legs, pulling them into the floor, which suddenly was as soft as quicksand. The two struggled to break free, but to no avail.

"Emily!" Mark cried in desperation, reaching out for her hand. But as they grasped each other's hand, the pull of the floor increased, making it impossible to retain their grip on one another. As they disappeared beneath the floor, the hands were wrenched apart by the increasing distance between them.

* * *

Roger found a temporary perch on one of the park's trees, taking a moment to scan over the crowds of people wandering around the Halloween Bash. Kain. Kain _was _here. He was sure of it. He could always sense Kain's presence. It was one of the abilities he'd gained when he became a vampire. The question was _where_ was he? Wherever he was, Roger needed to find him fast. Time was already running out.

Keeping his anxiety in check, Roger abandoned his current position to search from another tree. But in mid-flight, he saw it. Normal humans would not have noticed the dark aura surrounding the Haunted House that had been set up for the Halloween Bash. But for a vampire, it stood out clearly. If Kain didn't have anything to do with that, he'd burn his fender.

Roger immediately changed course and landed near the Haunted House. As he did so, he noticed two people walking in. A sinking feeling seized him as he recognized one of the people as Benny. The two of them had been at odds with each other for quite a while, but while they still weren't as close as they'd been in the past, they'd started to make peace with each other after Mark and Emily's wedding.

And if he was entering the Haunted House that Kain had taken control of in some way, Benny was definitely in serious danger. Acting fast, Roger began to follow Benny and Allison into the Haunted House, ready to come to their aid if it was needed. But he kept a safe distance from them for a while, just in case they might not run in to any problems after all.

For a time, everything was normal, and the place was simply a normal haunted house. But then, Roger heard Allison's voice.

"Hey, what's this?" she spoke, bending down and picking something up. Roger chanced a look around one of the body bags hanging from the ceiling. The moment he saw what Allison and Benny were looking at, he nearly gasped. It was the hat that went with Penny's hobo costume, along with Emily's cane! But didn't that mean….?

At that moment, all thoughts were put on hold when the walls suddenly came alive and grabbed hold of Allison and Benny. Despite their struggling and cries of alarm and fear, they couldn't break free. With moments to spare, Roger abandoned his hiding place and jetted forward, slashing through the hands which immediately shrank back into the wall, dropping Allison and Benny in the process. Even after the hands disappeared, Roger still kept himself on edge, ready to act again if the hands came back. As Roger looked around, Benny slowly got to his feet, helping Allison up as well.

"Roger?" Benny breathed. "Da-n, Roger, where'd you disappear to? Mark and Robbie came to my office saying you…" Benny instantly stopped when Roger turned to face him, allowing Benny to see his vampiric eyes and fangs. Instintivly, Benny stumbled backwards and accidentally tripped over his own feet, landing hard on his rear, and Allison covered her mouth with her hands, muffling her sudden scream.

"What happened?" Benny asked in shock once he regained the ability to speak, feeling slightly braver once he realized Roger hadn't started to attack them. Roger paused for a moment, eyeing the walls warily.

"Better head a little further in," he suggested finally. "Those hands might come back." With that, Roger led a still stunned Benny into another section of the Haunted House, with Allison following unwittingly, out of nothing but unwillingness to be left alone. They ended up choosing a corner inside a room made up to look like an eerie lit den. It was there that Roger explained everything that had happened since his fateful run-in with Kain.

"So now Kain's up to something," Roger concluded. "I don't know what, but this Haunted House is a big part of whatever he's planning."

"Okay, then how do we find out?" Benny asked. Before Roger could reply, Allison beat him to the punch.

"What if we figure out where those hands were trying to take us?" she recommended. "We'd see where everyone else was taken, too. And I'm sure there's an answer there." Roger and Benny turned to her in surprise. This had been the first time she'd spoken since the near-abduction.

"Actually, that _is _a good idea," Benny announced. "Roger, since you're…"

"A vampire?"

"Yes, that. Anyway, you should probably be able to find where the other people who got caught by those hands are. You _are_ able to see the dark aura you said is around this place."

"I can try," Roger sighed, getting to his feet to concentrate on finding the victims of the Haunted House. After a few tense moments, Roger turned further into the Haunted House.

"It's a little further in," he stated. "I can smell a large number of people up there." Without another word, Roger started to lead the way.

"Roger?" Allison suddenly stopped him, an awkward expression on her face. "I… Back there, you saved my life, didn't you?"

"Yeah, so what?" Roger answered hesitantly.

"I… I just want to…. thank you. That's all." It took a moment for Roger to work past his surprise. Allison Grey, the woman whose father had caused them so much grief in the past. She actually _thanked _him for something.

"No problem," Roger replied finally, sending her a small smile. Nothing else was said as Roger, Benny, and Allison continued on their way. Finally, Roger stopped inside a jail scene, in front of a locked door.

"They're in here!" Roger announced, pulling on the door handle. At first, it didn't budge, but once he put all of his vampiric strength into his effort, the door creaked open. Very slowly and cautiously, the trio entered the room which immediately was filled with light. They found themselves in a gigantic stone room, where a great number of people in various costumes were bound to the wall, all of them unconscious. Each person had a translucent orb suspended above their heads. Covering the floor was some sort of magic circle that was often used in strange rituals.

"What's all of this for?" Benny wondered out loud as the three friends looked around. After examining the room for a moment, Allison made a sudden discovery.

"Look at the orbs!" she cried. "There are images inside them."

"What do you mean?" Roger and Benny came over to see what she was talking about.

"Well, look!" Allison pointed to one orb above the head of a guy dressed like a mummy. Inside the orb was the image of the same man, surrounded by a large amount of money. Another orb showed the person it hovered above as well. But in that orb, the person was surrounded by beautiful women who were hanging over him. After a moment, Roger let out a sudden gasp of realization, turning to the magic circle. Within an instant, he was crouching above the center of the circle, examining the symbol that had been drawn there.

"Wunjo," Roger announced.

"What's that?" Benny asked.

"Wunjo. It's a rune symbol, meaning joy, comfort, or pleasure. When I became a vampire, a lot of information was entered into my brain. Stuff like this was included in that information." Roger paused for a moment, looking around at the orbs hovering over the people's heads. "The orbs. They're showing us what the individual people want the most. They're the most desired dreams they have."

"The things that would give them the most joy, comfort, or pleasure!" Allison continued, filling in the pieces to the puzzle.

"Exactly!" Roger confirmed.

"But what's the point?" Benny frowned. For a bit longer, Roger continued to examine the magic circle. But he suddenly froze.

"No," Roger whispered. "Don't tell me…"

"What?!" Benny and Allison cried in unison. When Roger looked back, his face was pale in foreboding.

"This magic circle," Roger explained. "It's designed to use the joys, comforts, or pleasures of everyone bound to the walls to drain them of their life energy. Some abilities are automatically gained when you become a vampire, like sharpened senses or advanced strength. But others, you develop though other means. That's what all this is for. If Kain drains the life energy of these people, he can absorb it to make himself stronger, by gaining one of the more advanced vampire abilities. The life energy; it'll make it possible for Kain to go out in broad daylight!"


	14. Goodbye

**AN: **I'm surprised at how long this chapter ended up being. I knew it would be long, but I never knew it would end up being on 13 pages on Microsoft Word.

I just want to explain a few things first. The paragraphs written in italix are ment to show what's going on in each of the Bohemians' orbs. Also, I need to appologise for the huge cliffhanger at the end. I promice to do everything in my power to have the next chapter up by Halloween. (Although, I do have bad news: someone does die in this chapter. But I'm not saying who. You'll just have to wait and see, and try to forgive me for killing someone off.)

* * *

"We gotta stop this ritual, or whatever you'd call it!" Benny moved to try to free one of the people by force.

"STOP!" Roger shouted in warning. "If you try doing it that way, you'll only end up killing them."

"Then how can we stop this from happening?" Allison asked.

"I don't know," Roger groaned in frustration, starting to pace the room, looking around at the victims of the Haunted House. As Roger continued his pacing, Benny and Allison hovered over the magic circle, hoping that they'd somehow be able to see some solution there. However, no more then about two minutes had gone by before they heard Roger cry out in devastation. Immediately, they looked up to see what caused him to cry out like that and found him staring at six of the Haunted House victims, all bound to the wall side-by-side. It was Joanne, Maureen, Mark, Emily, Penny and Mimi.

"No, not you guys, too," Roger moaned.

* * *

_ Joanne sat at a park bench, her fingers laced around Maureen's. The two of them were simply enjoying their time together. Joanne didn't have any cases to prepare for and Maureen was currently between Broadway performances. This left them free to have more 'them time'._

_Letting out a contended sigh, Joanne leaned closer to Maureen, who suddenly shifted. When Joanne looked up to ask what was wrong, Maureen surprised her with a deep kiss, which Joanne instantly returned. It wasn't long before hands began to roam as well. Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat caused them to pull apart, quite annoyed by the interruption._

_"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," the young man apologized. "But I was hoping you could tell me how to get to Battery Park?" Smiling, Joanne gave him the quickest route. _

_"Thanks for your help," the young man thanked them in gratitude. "Carry on." Needing no further invitation, the two continued with their kisses, while the young man continued on, not even batting an eye. Even while she was absorbed with Maureen, Joanne couldn't help but feel a wave of satisfaction. It was so nice to not receive any disapproving looks anymore, now that homosexuality had become widely accepted in America. _

* * *

_Maureen stood inside her old performance space, absorbing herself in memories. She'd had a lot of good times here, and she'd always remember them. But now, it was hard to say if she was more sad or happy. Maybe a combination of both, it was hard to say. She'd felt this way before, when they'd left the Loft for the last time. Maybe this was how it always felt when a chapter of your life ended._

_Moving further into the performance space, Maureen got up on the stage to look out at the building from that point of view one final time. For the briefest moment, she had a vision of the large group of people who had come to see her protests. Blinking back a sudden tear, Maureen glanced down and noticed something nearby. She bent down to get a better look, and gave a sudden laugh, seeing it was the cowbell she'd used during one particular protest. Once again, she absorbed herself in memories._

_"Maureen?" The Drama Queen quickly looked up and smiled when she saw her friends were all standing in the doorway, smiling back at her._

_"Come on, Auntie Maureen!" Penny called. "We're heading down to the Life to celebrate. You don't want to be left behind, do you?"_

_"No, I'm coming," Maureen replied, tenderly storing the cowbell in her bag, to keep it as an emblem to the past. When she'd joined her friends at the door, they each enveloped her in a large hug._

_"Great job, honey," Joanne whispered into her ear. "You did it." Instantly, a triumphant smile stretched across Maureen's face. Those words were still so good to hear. As shocking as it was to believe, the world had finally reached an acceptable unity, and while corruption did appear from time to time, it was always bought to a halt before it could spread. There was no longer any need for protests. _

* * *

_Mark stood by the window in the Condo, filming whatever he could. The city always seemed so peaceful in the early spring._

_His filming was interrupted when someone wrapped their arms around his middle from behind and placed a small kiss on his cheek. A smile instantly began to form at the corners of his mouth. He could always recognize that familiar smell of developing solution mixed with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. It was a unique smell he could always attribute to one person._

_"Hey, sweetie." Emily smiled up at him. "What are you doing way over here? Come join us for a change." Mark lowered his camera, not even putting up a fight, and allowed Emily to pull him back among the group. As he and Emily took a place among the others, Mark caught Roger's eye. The two of them shared a brotherly smile before Roger turned his attention back to gently playing with the tips of Mimi's hair while the dancer cuddled up against him, hugging his arm close to her. Maureen and Joanne were content to snuggle together, listening to Collins as he told them the story of his first anarchistic act while he kept Rodolfo balanced on his knee. And close by, Penny was perched on the arm of the easy chair, watching as her new baby brother was being rocked and fed by Angel. As the baby drifted off to sleep, Angel looked up at Mark and Emily with her warmest smile ever._

_"I know they say that a baby's eyes are supposed to get darker as they get older," she stated. "But I think this little one's inherited your eyes, Mark." Mark let a small chuckle escape his throat as he cast his eyes over his friends, all of them still alive and strong._

_"Hey, when the babies are a bit older," Maureen spoke up, "we should all go on a road trip somewhere. You know, a family vacation. We haven't done that Mimi won that trip to Lake Austin Spa Resort."_

_"A vacation to where?" Mimi asked, her eyes sparkling._

_"Hey, we don't have to decide right now," Roger laughed. "We've got our whole lives ahead of us, don't we?" Mark's smile grew wider. Words couldn't describe how good that sentence sounded to him. They summed up how things were perfectly. There was no HIV. Everyone was perfectly healthy. No one would be dying slowly before his eyes. Life was good. _

* * *

_Emily let out an appreciative laugh when the punch line to the joke had been reached. Her father, Zeke, always came up with the best jokes. Even as her laughter died down, the large smile never left her face as she watched her mother, Natalie, lean over to kiss Zeke's cheek._

_"Emily, eat up before your dinner gets cold," Natalie advised._

_"Sure, Mom," Emily replied, bringing a spoonful of the risotto into her mouth. While her friends often praised her cooking skills, she'd never been able to make risotto that could match her mother's. Natalie always added some special secret combination of herbs and spices that put it right over the edge._

_"It's still a shame Mark and the kids couldn't make it tonight," Zeke noted._

_"Yeah," Emily agreed. "But today's the Jewish holiday, Purim, so Mark'll be off at the synagogue with our son, and Penny's doing something with her Girl Scout troop. But I think everyone would be available next week."_

_"In that case, we should have another family dinner next week." Emily turned to smile at her brother, Zack, as he spoke, and he returned the smile eagerly. As much as Emily loved Mark and the children, and enjoyed being with her friends, her love for her parents and older brother was in a class of its own. Because of that, she always enjoyed the times when she could spend quality time with them. _

* * *

_Penny walked down the street to the mailbox on the corner, holding Wenceslas' leash in one hand and a stack of envelopes in the other. Within each envelope was an individual invitation. _

_It had been five years since the Center was no longer needed;, five years since the last unwanted child had entered the world. Everyone who had lived in the Center since its creation had found a home, and a family who was willing to adopt them. And just the other day, Nana had come up with the idea to have a special five-year reunion for all the children who had once lived at the Center. Penny had volunteered to mail the invitations, each one addressed to the families that had adopted each of the children. It would be so nice to see her childhood friends again, to see the children she'd grown up with before Emily had finally managed to adopt her. Most of all, however, she wanted to see her old friends as happy as she was. She'd always felt guilty that she had lived her life with the high chances of being adopted, when no one else in the Center had that chance due to the circumstances of their birth. But that was all in the past. Because now, every one of the children had what they deserved at last. A happy life and a loving family._

_A smile stretched across Penny's face as she reached the mailbox and dropped the stack of invitations through the slot. She couldn't wait to see everyone again. _

* * *

_Mimi sat on the couch reading a magazine, but looked up with a smile when the front door opened and Roger entered, his guitar case in one hand and the battered duffel bag in the other._

_"Welcome home, babe," Mimi greeted, immediately abandoning her magazine to greet him with a loving kiss. "How did the tour …?" Mimi's words were cut off with a sudden squeal as Roger responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the floor, twirling her around once._

_"Honestly? Could have been better," he replied, pressing his forehead to hers. "I spent most of the time missing you."_

_"Sweet talker," Mimi grinned as Roger returned her to the ground. But she still responded when he bent down to kiss her. "Besides, I know the fangirl groupies kept you more then occupied."_

_"Never. You know I never see anyone but you, baby. And don't pretend you didn't miss me."_

_"Hmm. I don't know Roger." Mimi turned so her back was facing him, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder. "I've had plenty of guys who frequent the Cat Scratch stop by to keep me company. And even Benny came around to…" Roger quickly grabbed her arms to pull her toward him, so her back was pressed to his chest._

_"Don't even try to tease me, Mimi Davis," Roger chuckled, nuzzling her cheek with his nose before placing a series of tiny kisses over her neck and shoulder. Letting out a moan, Mimi instinctively tilted her head, exposing more of her neck. What was he trying to pull? He knew perfectly well that she couldn't resist him when he kissed her in that spot._

_"Roger," Mimi put all of her effort into resisting him long enough to speak. "Come on, Rog. The kids are home."_

_"Good point," Roger breathed, pausing in his actions. "That reminds me anyway. Let's go to Grimaldi's for dinner tonight. The whole family."_

_"You just got home, and you want to go right back out again?"_

_"Hey, can't a guy want to spend dinner out with his family once in a while?" Roger pointed out. "Come on, Meems. I'm sure they'd want to eat at Grimaldi's, too. Then afterwards," Roger's voice dropped to a low tone, "we can send them all off to bed, and…" Mimi couldn't hold back a sudden gasp when she felt Roger's tongue lightly touch her earlobe. If he wasn't careful, she'd loose control and take him right here and now._

_"All right," Mimi gave in. "Get the children and we'll go to Grimaldi's." As Mimi grabbed her coat and bag, she looked over her shoulder to watch as Roger was greeted by their children. Rodolfo was almost a mirror image of Roger, with the same dirty brown hair, even having the same completion and cleft chin. The twins on the other hand looked more like their mother. But like Rodolfo had Mimi's eyes, the twins both had inherited Roger's green eyes._

_Already, Mimi was looking forward to watching all three of their children growing up, from finding their first loves, attending the school dances, graduating high school, and moving off to finish college the way their parents never did. And when they left the nest to live their own lives, she and Roger would still be there, living out their long lives together. It was more then she could have ever wished for._

* * *

"There must be someway to get them and the rest of these people out of here," Benny declared. "I don't know, a way to wake them up, or destroy that magic circle, or…"

"What did you say?" Roger's head shot up suddenly.

"Um… I said we could destroy the…."

"No, before that!"

"Oh. Well, I'm just saying that they're being kept asleep by showing them what they want the most, right? So, it's like they're having the best possible dream they could have."

"But if they were having a bad dream," Allison added, catching on. "Then they might wake up. That always did the trick for me when I was a child."

"Is there a way to turn the good dreams into bad ones, Roger?" Benny asked. Roger was quiet for a moment as he thought.

"Well, conveniently enough," he replied, crouching down at the central rune in the magic circle. "The rune Wunjo is not that dissimilar in appearance to the near opposite rune. That's the rune Thurisaz, the rune that means destruction and conflict. I suppose, if Wunjo is changed to Thurisaz, then the 'good dreams' would turn into 'bad dreams', and the magic circle's hold on everyone will break."

"Then let's do that then!" Allison smiled. "If we wait much longer, this Kain person might drain all of the life energy he needs. Nodding once, Roger turned his attention on the Wunjo rune. But he still found himself hesitating. Changing the symbol would mean giving his friends nightmares. The very idea was tormenting to him. But it could be argued that, if having your life energy drained was the alternative, a brief nightmare was certainly more preferable.

"Benny, Allison," Roger looked up at them. "Just to be on the safe side, the two of you better get out of here. I don't know what this'll do to this place, and I don't want to risk your safety."

"All right," Benny agreed. "Good luck, Roger." With that, Benny led Allison out of the room, leaving Roger to his task. Once he was sure they'd had enough time to get to a safe distance, Roger looked back at the rune symbol.

"Guys," Roger spoke to his friends' still forms. "I'm not sure you can hear me, but if you can, I'm sorry about this. Just remember it'll be over soon. I hope." With a set expression on his face, Roger extended a line on the rune symbol, changing it from Wunjo to Thurisaz. Almost immediately, the lighting of the room changed, and the orbs turned from the translucent blue to an inky black.

* * *

Collins and Paul made their way up to the Haunted House with Rodolfo in tow.

"I'm telling you something's not right," Collins said. "They've been gone way too long."

"I think you might be right," Paul agreed. "Perhaps we should go in after them."

"Collins!" Both Collins and Paul looked up at the sound of someone calling out, and saw Benny and Allison hurrying up to them.

"Hey, Benny," Collins greeted. "We're just heading up to the Haunted House to look for…."

"You can't!" Allison interrupted. "You can't go in there!"

"What do you mean?" Paul frowned.

"It's Kain, the vampire," Benny explained. "We just came from there. Kain's turned the place into some sort of trap. If you go in, you're used in this ritual or something to give Kain more strength. Roger's in there right now, trying to put a stop to…" Before Benny could continue, a loud explosion rang through the park. Looking back, the group saw a plume of smoke pouring out from the side of the Haunted House, where an entire wall had been blasted away. Without any hesitation, the four of them hurried over in order to see if everyone was all right.

* * *

All around the destroyed chamber, people were coming around, a little disoriented but unharmed. Among the rescued victims, Mark pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing the back of his neck before opening his eyes.

"Maureen, Joanne!" he gaped upon seeing the two women coming to next to him. "What are … where is this place…Where's…. Emily?!" Just as Mark started to look around, he heard Emily give out a small cry. Turning to his left, he saw her trying to stand. But without her cane to help her, she was having a difficult time in getting her bad leg to support her weight.

"Emily, don't!" Mark immediately stopped her before she made another attempt. "You know you can't risk standing without your cane. You might fall, and that could hurt the baby."

"Here, let me help," Joanne stepped forward and helped Mark support Emily. Meanwhile, Penny and Mimi were also waking up.

"Mmm," Penny groaned as she looked up. "Mom, Dad! What happened?"

"Penny!" Emily breathed a relieved sigh. "You're here, too. I thought we'd lost you."

"I repeat Penny's question," Maureen stepped in. "What exactly happened? Last thing I remember was the walls… OH!" Maureen stopped talking as she noticed something in the center of the room, amongst the smoke that was slowly dissipating. The others followed her stare and saw a figure in a familiar leather jacket sprawled out on the floor. Letting out the smallest of noises, Mimi slowly moved forward. As she approached him, Roger gingerly pushed himself off the floor, rubbing his head with a low groan. He hadn't expected stopping the ritual would cause that much of a disturbance.

"Roger." The musician's eyes snapped open at the sound of that voice speaking his name. With a breathy gasp, he looked up into the smiling face of Mimi.

"Where were you?" she whispered, the faintest hint of tears in her eyes.

"Mimi," Roger sighed, his face melting as he gazed at her tenderly. Before he could say anything else, Mimi launched herself toward him, hugging him as tightly as she could.

"Welcome back," Mimi whispered into his ear."

"Yeah," Roger breathed, returning the embrace while burying his face into her hair. He'd almost forgotten how good it felt to have her this close. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Staying away for so long." Mimi pulled back, taking his face in her hands to look him in the eyes. This time, there were tears flowing down her cheeks. But they were clearly not caused by sadness.

"That's not important," Mimi choked. "All I care about is that you're back." Finding a lump forming in his throat, Roger instinctively moved to kiss her, but stopped himself as he remembered how dangerous that could be. Instead, he covered her hands with his own, softly stroking them with his thumbs. However, the moment was broken when he became aware that the others were now all standing there in front of him, with expressions ranging from surprise to joy at seeing him back.

"So," Mark smirked, eyeing the damage in the room. "Did you do all this, Rog?"

"Yeah. I did. Of course, I didn't know putting a stop to it would do _this _much damage."

"Stop what?" Maureen asked. Roger quickly summed up what Kain had been planning, from turning the Haunted House into a trap to his attempts at being able to go out during the day.

"Kain can do that?" Joanne spoke in surprise.

"Yeah," Roger nodded. "But speaking of Kain, it might be a good idea if we all got out of here. He might sense his spell was broken and come back. Besides, everyone else seems to have already left." Sure enough, the other victims of the Haunted House had all decided to clear out of the room, so only the Bohemians were left.

"Sounds good," Mimi replied, placing a gentle kiss on Roger's cheek. "Let's get you home. Vampire or not, you're still Roger Davis, and you belong home with us. Even Rodolfo misses you." Roger had to admit that sounded good. He did miss being able to sleep in his bed, or fiddle around with his fender while trying to come up with a new song. But most of all, he missed hanging around with his friends, and holding his son in his arms while Mimi cuddled next to him.

The Bohemians began to exit the room through the broken-down wall, with Mimi keeping her hand entwined with Roger's. She had to let go, though, when he turned to offer assistance to Mark and Joanne in helping Emily through the hole.

"How about I go back in to get your cane?" Roger offered with a smile. Just as Emily was opening her mouth to reply, Mimi's cry rang out. Immediately, Roger spun around. What he saw placed an iron grip over his heart. Kain had returned and had taken Mimi hostage, leering at her terrified expression.

"Well, aren't _you _a pretty little thing?" Kain sneered, running one of his fingers down the side of her neck. "A beauty like you could make a very suitable queen."

"Let her go, Kain," Roger growled, stepping forward. Kain glowered up at the musician.

"So, Crimson. You've regained control of your mind, I see."

"Yeah, that's right," Roger couldn't hold back a cheeky smile. "So you can call me _Roger_, not Crimson."

"A shame. You were a fine vampire. But no matter. There's always _this _fine little minx." As Kain spoke, his tongue darted out to run across a vein in her neck, an act that made Roger's anger flair up, along with a wave of desperation at the sound of Mimi whimpering. Kain's cruel smile widened upon seeing Roger's tangible fury, and began to hiss into Mimi's ear. "What do you say, my dear? You can live by my side as my queen. You needn't fear about the pain. You'll find I can be most gentle in my feeding." Mimi, her throat to tight to speak, could only give out another whimper, trying to convey to Roger through her eyes how much she loved him.

"That's it, my queen," Kain chuckled, exposing his jagged fangs. "Let your fear grow. It makes the blood taste so much sweeter." But as Kain lowered his head to feed, Roger fell to his knees.

"Kain, please!" Kain instantly stopped upon hearing Roger begging in a trembling voice. The vampire paused as he stared at Roger, who had never looked so anguished.

"Please, Kain," Roger continued. "She… she's my wife. Don't hurt her, I beg you. Please. I… I'll do whatever you want. Anything at all. Just _please_, let her go." Kain remained quiet, studying Roger's face. But a sly smile began to form on his face.

"Very well," Kain agreed, releasing Mimi and pushing her toward Roger. "We have a bargain." Mimi immediately threw himself into Roger's waiting arms, silently sobbing as he rocked her back and forth, stroking her hair in an attempt to comfort her. After watching the display for a brief moment, Kain's smile grew even crueler. "Now feed on her."

Roger blinked in confusion. Did he just hear him right?

"W...what?" Roger turned to Kain, eyeing him questioningly. Even Mimi had pulled back slightly to stare at the smirking vampire.

"We had a bargain, Roger. You said if I let her go, you would do anything, did you not? You said you'd do whatever I wanted. And I say, feed on her."

"No!" Roger cried adamantly, only vaguely aware that the other Bohemians had spoken in unison with him.

"So, you're going back on your word?" Kain taunted. "Then I'll just have to go back on mine. You made your promise, Roger, and you know the binding nature of the word of a vampire. If you go back on your word and do not fulfill my request, then the agreement is broken. Which means you have only two options. Either you do as I say and feed on her, or _I_ will do it for you. If you ask me, seeing how this woman is your wife, she might prefer dying in your arms over mine."

Roger was immediately filled with an intense hatred for Kain. The older vampire was clearly enjoying this, knowing he had given an impossible choice. It was either kill the woman he loved more then his very life, or hand her back over to Kain. Either way, Kain won. Even his friends had clearly realized this, as they were all too stunned to even speak.

"Do it, Roger," Mimi whispered. Roger immediately stiffened. He didn't hear that right.

"What did you…?" he looked down at her in shock, causing him to see the tears staining her tanned cheeks.

"Please, Roger," Mimi continued to speak, not breaking eye contact. "If that's how it has to be…."

"No! Mimi, I'm not gonna do that! I can't!"

"Yes, you can! Because it's the only way! I don't care, Roger! I just wanna be with you! I don't care about anything else!"

"Not even our son?" Roger hissed. "Don't you care that this would make him an orphan?"

"He was going to be an orphan eventually, anyway!" Roger couldn't stop the inward flinch at Mimi's subtle reference to the HIV. "And we'd still be able to see him every night. Maybe even watch him grow up."

"Mimi…."

"Please, Roger." Mimi's voice once again dropped to a whisper as she took his face in her hands. "If I can't be with you as a mortal, I'll be with you as a vampire. We made a promise to face each day together, didn't we? For better or for worse, right?" For a moment, Roger was silent, gazing into her face. But then he squeezed his eyes shut in a vain attempt at holding back his tears.

"I'm sorry," Roger spoke through suppressed sobs. "I'm so sorry." Mimi responded by gently covering his forehead with tiny kisses.

"It's okay," she comforted between kisses. "It'll be all right. For us, Roger. It's for us, remember that."

"Come 'ere." Roger opened his arms, and Mimi immediately moved into them, allowing her lover to cradle her body. In doing so, she was able to feel his chest shaking from his silent crying. Hoping to offer comfort to him, Mimi held him as tight as she could. This action prompted Roger to nuzzle her neck with his nose, making it possible for Mimi to feel his hot tears on her skin. It was all she could do to keep from crying herself. She hated seeing Roger in this much pain, and wished there was some other way.

"Mimi. Meems." Roger's words were almost completely muffled against her shoulder. "I love you. I love you, baby." Despite everything, these words brought a small smile to her face, along with the comfort she needed.

"I love you, too," Mimi replied, trying to sound braver then she felt. She could vaguely hear Maureen and Penny making helpless sounds from behind them, and a faint grunt from Emily, indicating that she was trying to move forward to stop this, even though her bad leg couldn't support her. When she felt Roger's breath hit her neck in tiny puffs, she closed her eyes in preparation, and began to pepper his shoulder with reassuring kisses, hoping to let him know she wasn't blaming him for any of this, and that she was okay with her fate. Any moment now, and she'd feel his fangs break her skin, and she immediately felt Roger's hold on her tighten at the same time she did the same to him.

Just when Mimi felt the tips of Roger's fangs lightly touch her neck, a sudden shout rang out, causing everyone to jump. The cry had come from Collins, who was running towards them. Paul, Benny and Allison were standing at a close distance, watching with shock. Collins had apparently passed Rodolfo into Paul's care, as the seven-month-old was being held securely in the other man's arms.

"Do it, Penny!" Collins instructed. Penny instantly made a step forward, throwing a bag of something at Kain. When the bag was inches from him, Kain slashed at it, tearing it open. A small amount of some sort of tan powder flew out, and Kain quickly recoiled, letting out an agonized hiss. Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Collins called over to Roger.

"Here, Roger! Quick!" With that, Collins threw another object to the musician. Realizing instinctively what it was, Roger shot an arm out to grab it, feeling a sudden burning in his hand the moment he touched it. Without a second's hesitation, he swiftly threw the object around Mimi's neck and stepped backwards, looking relieved and satisfied with what he just did. Curiosity getting the better of her, she glanced down at the object and saw it was one of Nana's anti-vampire charms. When she looked up at Roger in surprise, she saw him sending a self-satisfied smirk towards an enraged Kain.

"I guess neither of us can feed on her now, don't you agree, Kain?" Roger mocked. Snarling, Kain turned to take his revenge by feeding on one of the other Bohemians, but froze instantly. The group, who had now been joined by Paul, Benny and Allison, was now surrounded by a circle of salt that had been poured onto the ground. Penny and Collins, deciding to add insult to injury, held up two blue cans of salt.

"We remembered Roger saying something about you planning something tonight," Collins explained.

"So, we decided to take some precautions, just in case," Penny added. "Namely packing some of Nana's charms, as well as some salt and garlic powder from Mom's spice rack."

"Looks like you won't be touching my friends anytime soon," Roger frowned at Kain, as if daring him to even try, walking closer to the older vampire as he spoke. But to his surprise, Kain began to laugh cruelly.

"You should remember, Roger," Kain smirked. "I don't _need_ to touch them." It took a moment for Roger to register that Kain was no longer looking at him, but a heavy-looking tree branch nearby, which was starting to shake.

"NO!" Roger's cry came too late. The branch snapped off the tree with a resounding crack, and hurtled in Mimi's direction with such speed, Roger knew he wouldn't make it in time. The only thing he could do was turn his head, so he wouldn't be able to watch it happen. But he couldn't block out the cry of Mimi, or the crunching sound of the branch hitting the ground. A terrible silence filled the air, and Roger felt his heart start to break, knowing what he'd see when he looked up. But to his surprise, Mimi's voice once again reached his ears. However, his hope was mixed with foreboding when he registered the agonized note to her voice. He finally looked up, and his breath caught in his throat. Mimi was crouched beside the fallen tree branch, staring in shock at the person who had been pinned beneath it. It was Paul.

Roger was taken aback, realizing instantly what had happened. He must have pushed her out of the way, taking the hit himself. In an instant, Roger was at Mimi's side and used his vampiric strength to push the branch off of Paul. One by one, the other Bohemians joined them. Paul was laying completely still, his eyes closed, with a bleeding cut in his forehead. When Roger turned to glare at Kain, he saw the older vampire had taken their distraction to make his escape. But he could still see his figure flying off.

And that was when he made his decision.

"Guys, get Paul to a hospital," Roger instructed, getting to his feet, staring after Kain.

"What are you going to do?" Mark asked, noting the look on Roger's face.

"This ends tonight," Roger vowed. "Too many people have died because of Kain. And now this. I'm going after him to put a stop to this."

"But how?" Maureen asked. "No offence, Roger, but Kain's been a vampire for years and years. You've only been one for a few weeks. So, wouldn't he have powers you don't?"

"So what? Does that mean I should just stand back and let him get away after all he's done? This is something I have to do."

"I don't suppose we can talk you out of this?" Benny asked. Roger looked over at his friend, who was now holding Rodolfo, indicating that Paul had passed the baby over to him before he'd saved Mimi.

"No. There's not." Roger paused for a moment to gaze at the faces of his friends and loved ones, trying to contribute them to memory. "I'll be seeing you." With that promise, Roger turned to fly off after Kain.

"Roger!" Mimi cried out to him, leaping to her feet and taking a few steps forward. Instantly, Roger had spun back around, and the two stared at each other with great intensity. Silence filled the air as they gazed at each other. Then, throwing caution to the winds, Roger ran at her, and in one quick movement, pulled her to him for a deep, passionate, intense kiss. Groaning softly, Mimi leaned into the kiss, wrapping one arm around Roger's neck while her other hand found a place on his cheek. In response, Roger entwined one of his arms around her waist, holding her securely against him, and gently placed his free hand on the back of her head, enjoying the feel of her soft hair beneath his touch. He'd missed this so much.

In the middle of the kiss, Roger abruptly pulled away, paying no heed to Mimi's devastated cry as he quickly turned and flew off after Kain. He didn't look back. He couldn't look back, knowing that if he did, he'd have second thoughts about what he was planning on doing. Second thoughts weren't something he could afford anymore. He'd made his choice, and there was no turning back.

* * *

Kain flew above the city, away from the park. His only choice was leaving the city and trying again somewhere else. Somewhere where there wouldn't be anyone around who could ruin everything again. Next time, he _would _succeed. He was sure of it.

At that moment, something collided with him, throwing him off course for a moment. Kain's anger intensified when he turned and saw Roger glaring back at him.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance, boy," Kain shouted with rage.

"Come and try, then," Roger challenged as he shot off to a nearby cathedral. Seething in fury, Kain pursued. But when he landed on the roof of the cathedral, Roger was nowhere in sight.

"So, you're hiding, are you?" Kain lurked along the roof, eyeing the gargoyles for signs of movement. "You realize it doesn't have to be this way. Think about what I can offer you, what we could do together. Anything you have ever wanted, it would be yours. Think about it, Roger. Friends you have lost returned to you, never needing to fear death. And your friends; you saw their deepest desires within their orbs, I trust. Those desires could be given to all of them. Think about that for a moment, Roger. Think long and hard."

From his hiding place behind a stone statue of an angel, Roger paused as Kain's words tempted him, and thought about what was being offered to him. He wouldn't have to worry about him or the others dying from AIDS. He could grow old with Mimi and have the large family he knew they both wanted. He could get the chance to be a proper uncle to Mark and Emily's unborn child, and see Rodolfo grow up with his future 'cousin'. He could make it so Angel could come back. Everything he and his friends ever wanted could happen.

But as the words of Kain began to seriously tempt him, a soft voice seemed to come from the stone angel he was hiding behind.

"Roger, could you really make the necessary sacrifices to regain what is gone? Is all of that worth your soul?" Hearing the familiar voice, a soft smile appeared on Roger's face.

"No. No chance, Angel," he whispered back. "Thanks."

Taking strength from his friend's wisdom, Roger closed his ears to Kain's continued offerings. But he was aware that he was coming closer every second. Any moment, and his hiding place would be discovered. But then, he saw a large pile of bricks lying nearby, no doubt left from some workers doing maintenance on the chapel. A sudden thought came to him instantly. But could he do it? Kain had managed to move objects at will, but could he do the same? Did he have enough control as a vampire to use that power yet? He never made the attempt before, and he would have preferred a less urgent time to try. But there wasn't time for ifs, ands, or buts. Concentrating hard, Roger put all his energy into trying to get the bricks to move. But he just couldn't manage. He didn't have enough control yet.

Kain was now right next to him. If he came any closer, he was sure to find his hiding place. Desperation seeping into his heart, Roger focused on the bricks as hard as he could. Finally, the bricks started to shake. Feeling a wave of triumph, Roger forced the bricks to fly at Kain, hitting him hard in the shoulder. The shock of the sudden attack sent Kain stumbling backwards.

Taking advantage of Kain's surprise, Roger emerged from behind the stone angel, sending more of the bricks flying at Kain. For a while, he managed to get a few good hits on the older vampire. But all that changed with Kain's surprise had worn away. Taking advantage of his more advanced control, Kain simply sent the bricks back at Roger. But instead of simply striking Roger with the bricks, Kain had the bricks encircle him like a tornado. The bricks repeatedly slashed and struck Roger's body with great force, leading Roger to cry out in anguish every time he was hit. Even when a series of bricks hit home in Roger's knee and back, sending him to the ground, the blows continued. Finally, Kain called off the tornado of bricks and strolled over to Roger's fallen form. He paused while Roger pushed himself onto his hands and knees. The second Roger had gotten into that position, Kain sent him flying backwards, into a stone buttress which was smashed instantly under the impact of Roger's body hitting it. Relishing in the sound of Roger shouting out in pain, Kain waited until he landed hard amidst the rubble from the smashed buttress. At this point, Kain slowly approached Roger's fallen form a second time, and cruelly kicked him hard in the side, emitting a low groan from the musician. Using his abilities, Kain forced Roger to his feet and sneered at his weary face.

"You are a fool, Roger," Kain mocked. "You seriously believed you could defeat me? I'm older, stronger, and _far _more experienced then you. You're nothing more then a mere child compared to me. How could a weak pup like _you _hope to defeat me?"

Roger breathed heavily for a long moment. He had to admit he was slightly thankful to be a vampire at this point. As a mortal, he'd have been long dead by now. But his energy was quickly diminishing after Kain's brutal attacks. If Kain wasn't using his powers to keep him upright, he'd have lacked the energy to even stand, and it was taking everything he had to keep his eyes open.

But then, a smug smile appeared on Roger's face.

"_You're_ the fool, Kain," Roger taunted.

"How do you figure?" Roger finally managed to raise his head, looking pleased with himself.

"You actually thought I was trying to defeat you? Can't you see I was only trying to distract you?"

"From what?"

"From keeping track of the time." Roger glanced over at something behind Kain's shoulder. When the older vampire turned, his eyes widened in shock at the sight of the sun starting to appear over the edge of the horizon.

Acting fast, Roger grabbed Kain from behind and launched them both into the sky. There, he held Kain still with all the adrenaline-induced strength he had left, forcing the vampire to face the rising sun.

"Fool! Release me!"

"Never! I don't know how many lives you've taken, Kain, or how long you've managed to exist before now. But you're not going to hurt anyone else!"

"Don't be stupid. You know _you'll _be killed, too."

"Yeah, I do," Roger spoke with passionate determination. "If that's the price I need to pay to keep you from hurting anyone else, and protecting my family from you, then it's a price I'm willing to pay."

As the light of the sun started to hit him, Kain began to twitch, writhe, and screech in pain. But Roger just tightened his hold on him. After a few agonizing moments, Kain burst into flames with one final scream. Letting pride at his achievement wash over him, Roger let the ashes that were Kain waft from his hands. It was over, in more ways then one.

Steeling himself, Roger looked up to face the rising sun. He knew there wouldn't be enough time to find safe refuge, and he'd known it would be like this from the start. The truth was, he had planned it this way from the moment he'd left the others in the park. He hoped they could forgive him, but he knew this was how it had to be. And he was at peace with that. All he could do now was wish them all happiness.

Closing his eyes, Roger allowed the sunlight to wash over his body, placing all his effort into enduring the pain he was already starting to feel. But then, out of the depths of his acceptance of this fate, his mind's eye gave him glimpses of a young Latina woman with beautiful brown eyes and a lively smile, both shining with love and life, and a small baby boy, with a face filled with wonder, laughing in delight. The images sent a jolt of pain into Roger's heart, leaving him wishing that he'd said a longer goodbye to them, and prayed that Mark and the others would take care of them.

"Mimi, Rodolfo," Roger whispered, letting his feelings for them consume him along with the light from the sun. "I love you. I'll _always _love you."

* * *

**AN: ** I'm so sorry to end this chapter here. Hope you'll forgive me.

If anyone was confused with what everyone was 'wishing' for, just send me a PM. I had a very hard time in deciding what Maureen and Joanne's 'dreams' would be, so they may not be all that great. Once again, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can.


	15. Coincidence or Fate?

**AN: **It took sooner then I thought it would to get this chapter up, so I hope it's good. However, it's not as long as the last one was.

* * *

Allison stood by while Benny spoke with Mark on the payphone. Nearly two hours had passed since the disaster at the park. Mimi, Mark, Emily and Penny had taken Paul to the hospital, and had been there ever since. Meanwhile, Maureen, Joanne, Collins, Benny and Allison had taken it upon themselves to find out what had became of Roger, who had once again disappeared. At this point in time, Benny had called up the hospital to exchange information with Mark. It was only after Benny had hung up that Allison spoke.

"What's the news?" she asked. Benny let out a sigh before replying.

"The official story that the cops are telling everyone is that all that stuff that happened at the Halloween Bash was nothing more then a Halloween prank that got out of hand. That's probably for the best. I don't think the rest of New York's ready to know what really happened. Come to think of it, they might never be ready."

"Benny… what about that other man?" Allison asked hesitantly, partially unwilling to hear the answer. "Paul, I mean. Did the doctors say….?" It took a while for Benny to reply.

"They said that… when the tree branch hit him, the impact caused some of his ribs to snap. A few of the ribs ended up piercing his lung. The punctures are all in very bad places. There's not much they can do for him." Allison grimaced at the thought. She'd only met Paul for a few moments, but in that small amount of time, she'd already started to like him.

"And Roger? Has anyone found him yet?"

"Actually…." Benny paused before continuing, and Allison could not overlook his pained expression. "Maureen and Joanne contacted Mark a few minutes before I did. They found his abandoned leather jacket hanging from a street sign not too long ago. Mark hasn't gotten the courage to tell Mimi yet. She hasn't spoken a word since he went after Kain." The two were quiet for a long moment, letting sorrow set in.

"Come on," Benny sighed, trying to keep his voice level. "We'd better keep on looking. There might still be hope." Allison rubbed her eyes and started to follow, but stopped when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There was something sprawled out beneath a nearby tree, partially hidden by a pile of fallen leaves. Letting curiosity overtake her, she approached the leaf pile, and let out a gasp when she saw what it was.

"Benny!" she cried urgently. "Hurry, get the blanket out of the Range Rover!"

* * *

The Bohemians all exited the elevator in the industrial high-rise, immediately making their way down the hall to the home of Benny and Allison. It had taken a while for everyone to get the message, but eventually, everyone had been told that Benny wanted everyone over, saying he had something they should see firsthand.

Mark and Mimi were the first ones to reach the door, but waited until the others had joined them. Collins was moving the slowest, since he was doing his best to not disturb Rodolfo, who had fallen asleep on the cab ride over.

Once everyone was gathered together, Mark knocked on the door, which was answered almost immediately by Allison. Without a word, she led them through the apartment and into the sitting room. Inside the sitting room, Benny stood silently by the wall, smiling gently upon seeing them before glancing back at the loveseat, and the figure currently sitting there, who was clearly completely unclothed under the thick blanket that had been wrapped around his bare body.

"ROGER!" The musician had been hanging his head, staring at the floor with a blank expression on his face. At the sound of his name being screamed, he slowly started to look up. But he'd barely had time to raise his head before Mimi had launched herself at him, hugging him with enough strength to leave bruises on his arms, and covering every inch of his face with kisses. When her kisses had migrated to his lips, he began to tenderly respond to the caresses, slowly lifting an arm to hold her close while keeping the other hand occupied at keeping the blanket wrapped around his body.

"We found him over by the Queensboro Bridge," Benny explained. "He was pretty out of it, but alive. I'm just glad we had that blanket with us. Otherwise, he might have frozen to death out there." Emitting a sob of relief, Mimi pulled back slightly to gaze at his face, letting out a gasp when she took note of his eyes.

"Roger," she whispered. "Your eyes. They're normal." Immediately, a spark of knowing flashed in Roger's green eyes. Taking her hand in his, he drew her fingers to his mouth to rest them on his perfectly normal teeth.

"I figured," he croaked, an instant smile stretching across his face. Within moments, they had pulled each other into another kiss.

"How's that possible?" Joanne gaped. "How was he cured?"

"Does it matter?" Maureen laughed in delight, jumping forward to hug her friend. "He's back! Our Roger's back to normal! That's all I need to know right now!"

"Maureen," Roger grunted as Maureen tightened her hug. "Come on, I'm still sore from the fight with Kain."

"Speaking of whom…" Mark glanced at Roger questioningly. Mark didn't need to continue. Roger knew instantly what his best friend wanted to know.

"Gone," Roger replied simply. "He's gone for good. The sunlight killed him."

"What is going on in here!?" Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of a new voice crying out. Standing in the doorway was Mr. Grey.

"Allison, I saw everything on the news about some sort of Halloween prank, and that someone had been taken to the hospital because of it. I had to come over and see if you were…." Mr. Grey stopped in mid-sentence upon recognizing the Bohemians. "_You_! I remember you people! You were those people who were at the Life Café that one night! What are you doing here?! It's bad enough I had to watch your boorish displays that night, but to come into the home of my daughter and son-in-law…with one of you completely unclad…" Roger self-consciously pulled the blanket closer around him while Mr. Grey's ranting continued. "Absolutely disgraceful. If you don't leave this place _immediately_, I'll…"

"Daddy, that's enough!" Allison interrupted, looking suddenly angry. "These people are here because Benny and I _invited_ them."

"Invited them?" Mr. Grey looked completely shocked.

"You see that man there?" Allison pointed over at Roger. "Benny and I _were _at that Halloween Bash, Daddy, and we were caught up in the prank ourselves. This man risked his _life_ in order to save us. If it wasn't for him, we'd both be dead right now. And if you'd notice, he's been through a lot tonight. He needs you to leave him be, so we can pay him back for saving us by letting him rest."

"He saved you?" Mr. Grey echoed.

"Yes, he did," Allison replied. "Now if you please, Daddy. Everyone here has been through a lot tonight. I'd appreciate it if you went home so we could _all_ get some rest." After a brief pause, Mr. Grey relented. Once her father had left the apartment, Allison turned smiling at the other Bohemians, who were all looking back at her in surprise.

"All right, who are you, and what have you done to that rich snob who insulted me at the spa resort in Texas?" Emily quipped. Allison just smiled wider in response before directing her attention back to Roger, who had shifted himself to lie down on the couch, allowing Mimi to hold his head on her lap. A soft, contented smile graced his face as she tenderly weaved her fingers through his hair and stroked his rough cheek.

"I'll bet you must be hungry," Allison surmised. "Would you like anything, Roger?"

"Right now, I just want to sleep," Roger answered, letting out a tiny sigh as he leaned into Mimi's touch. "But… maybe later… I could go for a large order of fries, a nice cold beer, and a juicy bacon cheeseburger. Extra bacon."

"I'll see what I can do," Allison promised. However, Roger didn't hear her. He had already drifted off into a deep, peaceful, dreamless sleep, lulled by the feeling of Mimi's closeness and the second chance at life he'd somehow been given.

* * *

Roger hesitated for a moment, standing in the doorway of the hospital room. Nana was looking a lot better then she did when she was first admitted. If it wasn't for the nearly-healed cuts on her face, she would have looked the same as she always did. Letting out a deep sigh while running a hand down his face, he stepped up to her bedside, dropping into a nearby chair. The faint squeak of the cushioned seat conforming to his weight seemed to alert Nana to his presence, for she opened her eyes soon afterwards.

"I was told you wanted to see me," Roger spoke in a way that seemed to ask for confirmation. And it was a fact that the request confused him. He'd have thought that Emily would have been the one the elderly woman would have asked for, given their history together.

"That's right," Nana replied. "I have a book on the table over there. Could you hand it to me? There's something I wanted to show you." Roger did as Nana asked. taking note of how old the book appeared as he handed it over. "It belonged to my great grandmother," Nana explained, confirming the book's age while flipping through the pages. "It's been kept safe by my family since her death. On the day I met up with Kain, this is what I was on my way over to show you." Nana paused before handing it back to Roger, pointing to one of the pages. "This was him, wasn't it?" Roger's eyebrows shot up as he glanced at the lifelike sketch of Kain that had been drawn in the diary.

"Yeah. That's him," Roger nodded. "Does that mean your great grandmother…?"

"No. Not really. That sketch was drawn from the description of another woman, who my great grandmother encountered in the tavern her family owned. Her name was Abigail Belmont. My great grandmother was so enthralled with Abigail's story, that she chronicled it within this diary. Abigail couldn't do it herself, for she had never been formally educated in literacy, and couldn't even write her own name. But Abigail was the one who fought Kain generations ago, after her own sister had been killed by the vampire. It had taken her years to self-train herself to the point when she was strong and skilled enough to take him on, but she eventually sealed him up, using charms and seals meant to last forever."

"But if he was sealed, how did he get out?" Roger questioned.

"That is a very good question, and it puzzled me as well. But at my request, Officer Kurtz did some research on the cargo that was on the ship that was being unloaded by that longshoreman, Kain's first victim after being released. As it would happen, that cargo ship was carrying a shipment meant to be taken to a museum here in New York. The artifacts had been taken from an estate in Romania, one that could be traced back to the Belmont family."

"And Kain's prison was mixed in, wasn't it?" Roger frowned.

"The police report that was filed when the longshoreman's body was found stated that one of the crates had fallen into the water. It can be assumed that the seal on Kain's prison was broken when that happened."

"So that answers the question to how Kain got here," Roger concluded. "But that doesn't explain why you said you could only tell me about this. The others would have wanted to hear, too." Nana's smile widened.

"The reason for that, Roger, is that there is _more _to the story. When I was looking through the diary, I found something that made me believe Kain's greatest mistake was targeting you."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me Roger. What do you think helped you regain control of your mind?"

"What kind of question is that?" Roger blinked. "I just couldn't hurt Mimi."

"Yes, I know. And that is a big part of it. More importantly, it's why I believe you were reverted back to a mortal. You were so willing to sacrifice yourself to keep your loved ones safe, that the darkness in your soul, which had fueled the transformation in the first place, was overpowered. And when the darkness was weakened, the hold of the vampire on you was broken.

"But as for how you regained control of your mind, I think there was _another _side to it. I believe your love was combined with another force, one you weren't even aware of. Together, they helped you regain control. And if Kain was aware of the source of that other force, if he knew who you _were_, I don't think he'd have been quite so eager in targeting you. In fact, I believe he would have avoided you if he could."

"I don't get it."

"It's right here." Nana reached for the diary and turned to another page. "You see, Roger, my great grandmother included _another _sketch in her diary. One of Abigail Belmont herself. I dare say you'd find it most interesting." When Nana reached the right page, she passed the diary back over to Roger, so he could see the sketch of Abigail Belmont. The moment he saw it, he could barely believe it. The sketch was of a tall woman in clothing typical of a man in her time period, including a longhunter shirt and breeches. On her left hand, which was covered in a thick gauntlet, a falcon of some sort was perched. But what really made Roger stare was Abigail's facial features. The confident smile residing above her strong jaw, featuring a cleft chin, was framed by a set of high cheekbones. And her hair, which fell down to her shoulders, had a slight wave to it, but near the ends, the wave was replaced by a distinct curl. In fact, Roger's immediate impression was that she almost looked like a female version of himself!

"Can't be," Roger gaped up at Nana, looking for affirmation.

"Later on in the diary," Nana replied, "It states how Abigail Belmont went on to marry a man whose surname was Davis. Perhaps it's just a coincidence. After all, Davis _is _a rather common name. But still, I suppose it is possible."

Roger just continued to stare at the sketch of Abigail Belmont. _Was_ it possible? Was this woman really his ancestor? But when he pulled his eyes away from the diary to question Nana further, he found that the old woman had drifted off to sleep again, leaving him with his thoughts and unanswered questions.

When Roger left the hospital, he'd made up his mind to relate everything he'd learned about Kain's origins to Mimi and his friends, along with Nana's theory about how he'd managed to become a mortal again. After all, they had all been wondering those things just as much as he had been. But as to his possible connecton to Abigail Belmont, that would remain a secret between Nana and himself. Nana had clearly felt that only Roger had a right to know that, and if that was how she felt, then he'd have to trust her judgement and keep it that way.

* * *

**AN: **How'd you like it? Should that last scene have been cut? It wasn't part of the original plan, but the idea came to me as I was writing this story out, and it seemed like a good idea, so I had to include it.

I also want to thank LiveLoveRENT, as well as jenn51421 from the Internet Movie Database for actually answering my questions about Roger's appearence, such as what his hair could be described as (I couldn't figure out if it was more wavy or curly) and whether or not he had high cheekbones. I admit I may not have phrased my question all that well, but most of the people who replied could have been a wee bit nicer/more helpful, instead of just calling me lazy and stuff. But rant aside.

I'd say the story could pretty much end here, but there will be one more chapter. Mainly, it exists to keep a promice I made to LiveLoveRENT a while back. But there will be ties to the main story, so it will fit.


	16. Christmas of Firsts

**AN: **Finally, the last chapter of this Halloween story. It's officially dedicated to LiveLoveRENT, who asked me to do this a while back. Incidentally, if you think I shoud increase the rating of the story to 'M' because of this chapter, let me know through a PM. I'd appreciate it. On that note, enjoy.

* * *

The city streets were blanketed by a deep layer of snow, which continued to be thickened by the multitude of snowflakes falling from the bleak sky, completely concealed by clouds so not even the moon could shine through. A chill wind drafted through the bare branches of leafless trees. Wisps of breath could clearly be seen puffing out from the mouths of heavily bundled-up people journeying down the sidewalk.

But inside the Condo, everything was warm and bright. A roaring, cracking fire was burning within the brick fireplace, and everywhere you looked, colorful decorations adorned the walls, from red and green paper chains to wreaths made from felt squares. And in the corner of the room, a full Christmas tree trimmed with colorful lights and homemade ornaments, with a paper angel perched at the top, stood gracing the entire apartment with its rich pine needle aroma.

The entire Bohemian family was all gathered in the room, spending their Christmas night together, their laughter filling the air. Collins and Maureen were both starting to feel a little drunk from the traditional Christmas stoli, and were now in the process of signing carols off-key while their friends took the bottle from them to give them a chance to sober up a bit. Meanwhile, Maya was contenting herself with batting at a jingle bell ornament dangling from the Christmas tree, while Wenceslas occupied himself with his new rooting box. On the couch, Penny was sharing a chocolate orange with Joanne while Emily was sipping some hot cider through a straw, taking small sips to lessen her chances of getting bouts of morning sickness. While all this was going on, Mark was taking a moment to film the proceedings, paying particular attention to Roger and Mimi, who were sitting on the floor, fawning over Rodolfo as the ten-month-old chewed on a set of plastic keys. After a few seconds, Mimi got a mischievous smile on her face. Picking up a stray gift bow from the floor, she waited until Roger had looked up to jokingly tell Mark to put the camera away before sticking it to his forehead.

"Meems!" Roger cast her a mock scowl as she started laughing. He kept the scowl for a moment, but then grinned and leaned in to kiss her. Looking at Roger now, it was impossible to tell that just two months ago, he had been a vampire. At this point, he looked as normal and as healthy as he always did.

"Hey, I'm hungry!" Maureen suddenly complained. "When are we gonna eat?"

"Our late-arriving guests are bringing dinner," Emily replied without looking up from her cider. "So I'd say we're eating when they get here."

"Aw, why couldn't _you _make dinner again, Emmy?" Maureen pouted. "My stomach needs food _now_!"

"Reen, do I need to remind you that, thanks to my morning sickness, I get nauseous more easily?" Emily sighed. "Truth be told, I don't think you'd have approved if the person making the dinner ended up getting sick in the gravy." The moment Emily mentioned her morning sickness, Mark immediately started lowering his camera. By the time she'd finished speaking, he'd dropped onto the couch next to her, resting a hand on her still-flat belly. Immediately, Emily looked up at him with a smile, resting her own hand atop his. It was one of those moments when no words were needed. Last year, it had been Roger and Mimi looking forward to Rodolfo joining their extended family. Now, it was _their _turn to experience the same feelings.

At that moment, the door opened, accompanied by a knock.

"Ho, ho, ho!" a familiar voice called.

"Benny!" A multitude of voices chorused as the Bohemians' former ex-friend entered the Condo, accompanied by Allison, seven-months-along with her unborn son, Robbie, Rupert, Jerry, and a fully-recovered Nana. The newcomers had their arms laden with platters of food, including a large honey glazed ham, with a veggie loaf substitute for Collins, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, dinner rolls and butter, and a pumpkin pie made with an artificial sweetener to act in accordance with Emily's diabetes.

"Oh, _finally_, dinner's here!" Maureen gave a dramatic sigh. "I was about to eat Wenceslas, I was so hungry."

"Oh, no, not that little cutie," Allison exclaimed, depositing the platters she was carrying on the metal table before going over to pat the little pig's side. "How could anyone want to eat you?"

"You've certainly pulled a 180," Joanne noted in approval.

"Having your life saved by someone from a class you once held a prejudice for _does _tend to change your attitudes," Allison explained with a kind smile. The matter was dropped when the Christmas dinner had been assembled on the metal table, and the entire group started in on their feast. But before the pie was served, Collins stood up, holding out his glass of eggnog.

"I just realized something," he announced. "There really is a lot to celebrate this year. This is the first Christmas we've had in the Condo, it's Rodolfo's first Christmas, _and _it's the first Christmas Mark and Emily have been married for. It's also the first Christmas since his marriage into the Grey Family that Benny has been with us as a friend, and we now have a new member of our family in Allison."

"And let's not forget the family members who will be joining us for _next year's_ Christmas celebration," Benny added, gesturing to Allison and Emily. "Collins is right, this really _is _a Christmas of Firsts.

"Anyway, have you and Emily decided on a name yet, Mark?"

"We're still debating on possible names to use if it's a girl," Mark explained, "But, if it's a boy…."

"Then he'll be Zachary Thomas Cohen," Emily finished, curling her fingers around Mark's. "What about you, Allison? I _know_ you've figured out the gender of yours by now. You've only got about two months to go."

"Yes, I have," Allison agreed. "His name's…. Alvin Paul Coffin." The Bohemians all shared a moment of respectful silence at the honoring of their lost friend.

"Have they decided who's gonna take his place at Life Support yet?" Penny asked. "I know Uncle Collins has been acting as a temporary leader, but I never heard of any permanent decision yet."

"Well, I have heard a bit of a rumor, but I'm not sure if it's true," Mark admitted. "The rumor is that they're planning on having a joint leadership at the meetings, and that Roger and Mimi will both be nominated for the job. But like I said, it's just a rumor, so…" Roger suddenly let out a snort. _Him _leading the Life Support meetings? Now, _that _was a scary thought. On the other hand, if he had Mimi at his side….

However, all thoughts of Life Support vanished from everyone's mind as the pumpkin pie was served.

* * *

The night wore on amidst joking, laughing, and just spending time together. It was after ten thirty before everyone had gone home. Once the last guest had left, and Rodolfo had been tucked into his crib, the remaining Bohemians took a moment to enjoy the peaceful quiet of the Christmas night. Mark and Emily were sitting on the couch with Mark's hand instinctively resting on Emily's belly, while Roger had pulled Mimi into his lap over on the easy chair, gently running a hand up and down her back. Penny was lying on her stomach by the fire where Wenceslas and Maya had curled up together, occupying herself with petting the pig and the kitten in turn. However, she stopped when she caught Roger's slight nod in her direction. Smiling, she nodded back, recognizing the prearranged cue.

"Aunt Mimi?" Penny asked as she got up. "I was wondering. Could _you _tuck me into bed tonight?"

"Sure, Penny," Mimi agreed, slightly confused by the odd request. Pausing only to kiss Roger tenderly and say 'goodnight' to Mark and Emily, she followed Penny upstairs to her bedroom. But once they were out of earshot, she confronted the preteen.

"All right, Penny. What's going on?" Mimi asked. "Since when do you ask people to tuck you in? You haven't done that since you were eight." Penny slowly started to smile in a way that showed she had a secret.

"Okay, but you didn't hear it from me," Penny began. "The truth is, Roger said he has a special Christmas present he wants to give you. Only, he needs time to set up, so he asked me to keep you occupied while he gets ready."

"What sort of present?" Mimi raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I don't know," Penny shrugged. "I asked, but he wouldn't say." Deciding to play along, Mimi spent a while up in Penny's bedroom, with the two of them just having random girl talk. By the time Penny fell asleep, Mimi decided Roger had had more then enough time to set up for this 'present'. Heading back downstairs, she found the living room area deserted, and realized Mark and Emily had already gone off to bed. Roger was also not in sight, leaving Mimi figuring that he was in their room. She started to head to the closed bedroom door, pausing on her way to scratch Maya's head and pat Wenceslas' side, prompting a purr and a contented grunt from the family's pets, who were still curled up together in front of the fire that was slowly dying down. But when she reached the bedroom door to test the handle, she found it was locked from the inside.

"Roger, what are you doing in there?" Mimi knocked on the door. "Will you unlock this door?" For nearly a minute, she heard absolutely no reply or acknowledgment from the other side of the door. "Roger, will you answer me? Sh-t, Roger, just open this da-n…." Mimi's scold trailed off when she heard the click of the door being unlocked. "_Finally_," Mimi gave an exasperated sigh, pushing open the door. "Now, what's the big idea with…?"

What Mimi saw when she looked around the room effectively made her loose her train of thought. The whole bedroom was illuminated with nothing but candles that had been placed on every flat surface, from the bedside table, to the dresser, and even the windowsill. And on the floor and the bed, red rose petals had been scattered, leaving a velvety blanket everywhere. Before Mimi could find her voice again, she felt familiar arms embrace her from behind, followed by a soft kiss placed aside her ear.

"Merry Christmas, baby." Goosebumps immediately sprang up on Mimi's arms as Roger's breath wafted past her ear.

"Roger," Mimi whispered, turning to look up into his gently smiling face. "I can't believe you did all this."

"Oh, this isn't it, Meems." Roger ran his hands down her spine to the small of her back. "Go check out the bathroom." Mimi's mouth opened slightly, but she crossed the room to the bathroom. Inside, she was greeted by more candles burning around the rim of the tub, not enough to pose a danger, but enough to set a definite mood. The tub itself was filled with warm water coated with a healthy film of fragrant bubbles and even more rose petals.

"This…this is..." Words completely failed to form in Mimi's mouth as she took everything in.

"Only the best for you, baby," Roger cooed, bending to kiss her tenderly.

"Aw, thanks, babe," Mimi grinned, draping her arms around his neck. Looking around, she realized something was missing from the room. "Out of curiosity, where's Rodolfo?"

"He's rooming with Uncle Mark and Aunt Emily tonight. After all, they'll both need the practice for when they have their new baby in a few months."

"Good point," Mimi noted. "But seriously, what brought all this on so suddenly?" For a brief moment, a sullen frown flashed over Roger's face, but he quickly brushed it aside to explain.

"Well… you remember what happened to me two months ago, right?" Small creases formed across Mimi's forehead. Of course she remembered. How could she not? That had been among the most awful moments in her life. In fact, they hadn't spoken of that whole terrible incident since. Mimi's expression seemed to convey exactly what she was thinking, for Roger continued. "I know, I hate thinking about it, too. But…the thing was, when I was keeping my distance from everyone after finding out about that…useless cure in Nana's book, it was because I knew no one could go through with it, so it looked as if I'd be stuck that way forever."

"I know," Mimi nodded. "So you kept away from everyone because you were worried you might loose control of your mind again and feed on someone."

"Actually, there was more to it," Roger confessed. "I was also staying away, because I knew you deserved better then being married to a vampire. And don't try to argue," Roger instructed, noticing Mimi was starting to open her mouth. "Don't even try, because it's true. You've always been so full of life, Mimi. Always bright and energetic, always ready to live for the moment, which is one of the many reasons why I fell for you in the first place. But because of that, you deserved more then being married to an undead vampire, who couldn't even take a few hours out of his life to show you how much he loved you. I spent most of my time as a vampire wishing to become normal again, just so I could have the chance to be that person for you again. Now, I can." When Roger finished speaking, Mimi lowered her head so he wouldn't see the tears that had formed as his words touched her. But he took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him, gazing into the brown eyes that had captivated him from the start.

"I love you, Mimi," Roger whispered, his voice filled with honesty. "More then you'll ever know." Emitting a soft sob, Mimi placed her hands atop his, pressing them closer to her cheeks.

"I love you, too," Mimi replied. Giving into emotion, the lovers leaned into each other, sharing a sweet kiss. When they came up for air, Roger gave a slight nod to the tub.

"So, you wanna take your bath now?" He asked.

"On one condition," Mimi grinned, reaching up to entwine her fingers in his hair. "You come join me for it."

"Oh, I planned on it," Roger returned the grin, slowly peeling off his shirt before helping Mimi do the same. Once the collection of their clothing had formed a pile on the bathroom floor, the two stepped into the fragrant water and took up a position with Mimi leaning back into Roger's chest and Roger's arms wrapped securely around her middle. For a time the lovers sat in silence, enjoying the warmth of the water and the closeness of one another. But then, Roger scooped up some of the water in one of his cupped hands, allowing the liquid to spill from his hold and gently flow off of Mimi's shoulder. As he did this, Mimi was able to identify the scent that filled the air, coming from the scented bubbles Roger had used.

"That's jasmine, isn't it?" Mimi smiled softly.

"Yeah, it is," Roger confirmed. "Just don't tell the guys about it. I'd never hear the end of it if they knew I picked _that _particular scent."

"Oh, don't worry," Mimi promised. "I'll never tell anyone how sweet and romantic my tough rock god can be. No one would believe it, anyway." The two chucked for a moment or two, but then slipped back into their previous silence. After a few moments passed, Roger picked up the soft sponge from its location next to a candle and started to slowly bathe Mimi with it. The warm water trickled from the sponge and flowed down her body as he worked his way from her back to the nape of her neck and shoulders before starting down her arms. The combination of the warm liquid, the gentleness of the sponge, and Roger's slow progression emitted a small sigh of contentment from Mimi. An instant smile stretched across Roger's face as he heard the tiny sound, and he brushed her long hair over her shoulder so he'd have free access to place unhurried kisses to the back of her neck. As he did so, he had to hold back a sigh of his own. Mimi's skin had always been soft, but there was something about the water that made it seem twice as soft. Not that he could ever find fault with that.

The sponge had meanwhile progressed to Mimi's front, starting from the navel and slowly working its way upwards. While the sponge traveled, Roger continued placing kisses on her shoulder, while the hand that was not moving the sponge began to tenderly knead her upper back. Tilting her head back slightly, Mimi gave a low moan of approval, nonverbally letting Roger know how much she was enjoying this. Not long afterwards, the sponge had arrived at Mimi's breasts, and started to circle each one in turn, gradually closing in on their peaks. Upon reaching the destination, Roger lightly pushed the sponge inwards, placing the slightest of pressure on the elevated crests. With a sudden movement, Mimi reached upwards and pulled the sponge from Roger's hand, turning in the water to face him with a giant smile.

"My turn," she announced with a wink.

"Mimi," Roger shook his head. "Tonight's only meant for _you_."

"I know. And what would make me happy right now is having my turn with the sponge." Letting out a quick laugh, Roger realized that arguing with her was pointless. Instead, he gave in and reclined back a bit so Mimi could get her request. Immediately, she went to her task of moving the damp sponge over Roger's chest, admiring the way the water seemed to cascade down the inclines. But once she reached his collarbone, she had to pause; taking note of a pair of small identical scars that resided at the place where his neck met the shoulder. Slowly, she reached out a finger to delicately trace the scars. When her finger was an inch away, Roger realized what she was doing and stopped her by gripping her hand firmly but gently.

"Mimi, please," Roger shifted uncomfortably. "I hate that fu-king scar. It always reminds me of that night. I still get nightmares about it sometimes." Mimi's face softened in an instant, and she placed a hand to his chest.

"Babe, you know that whole experience was hard for me, too. But you also need to understand that none of it was your fault. To me, that scar proves how strong and brave you are. Strong enough to regain control of your mind and continue doing so, and brave enough to risk everything to stop Kain. And even more, it shows you're the only person ever who was cured from being a vampire. If you ask me, that's something to be proud of. No one else could say the same, just like not many people could say they were able to overcome what gave you those _other _scars." To emphasize her words, Mimi took hold of Roger's arm and ran a finger over his bicep, where the old scars left over from his track marks could still be seen.

"Roger, all your scars show is how strong you can be, and how you can get through everything that is thrown at you, even if it takes you a while to get there." Mimi paused in her assurances to lay a tender kiss on Roger's lips. "And _that _is one of the many reasons why _I_ fell for you." At the praise and confession, Roger looked away for a moment, trying to hide his blush. But Mimi placed her hand on his cheek to force him to look back at her.

The water around them began to churn ever so slightly as Mimi moved against him, skin-on-skin, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him deeply. In an instant, Roger responded with equal passion, molding some of the sensitive areas along Mimi's back with his hands while allowing her to rake her fingers though his dirty blonde hair, lightly scraping his scalp with her nails. The kiss continued for a long time, until Roger took note of the fact that the bath water had cooled, and most of the bubbles had dissipated. Reluctantly, he pulled away while giving Mimi an apologetic smile. But it quickly shifted to a loving one as he got to his feet and stepped out of the tub, leading Mimi by the hand as he did so. Taking a clean towel that had been left folded nearby, he started running the towel over Mimi's damp skin with the same slow progression he'd used with the sponge. When he'd finished, Mimi pulled the towel from him and dried him off in return.

As she moved downwards, she got to her knees so she could have a better angle when drying off his lower body. But once she'd nearly wiped all the bath water from him, a sly smile formed. Before he knew what she was planning, Mimi had wrapped the towel firmly around Roger's manhood, and gave a quick squeeze. This action prompted a sudden jump from him, accompanied by a gasp. When Mimi glanced up at Roger, she saw him looking back with a heated expression. In a rapid, well-practiced movement, Roger had pulled Mimi to her feet and scooped her up into his arms. With an unhurried step, he carried her out of the bathroom and gently laid her on the bed among the rose petals. For a moment, he had to pause to just look at her, with her hair spread out like a dark brown halo, a few of the rose petals getting tangled in the tresses. The flickering luminescence from the candlelight was reflected in her brown eyes, also giving her tanned skin an almost ethereal glow. The sight of her nearly made him melt.

"You're beautiful," Roger whispered, pressing a tender kiss to her cheek before doing the same to the other. "You're so beautiful."

For what seemed like an eternity, the two kissed one another deeply. Eventually, Roger moved his caress down to Mimi's neck, shoulders, and collarbone. As he did so, he began to run his hands up and down her waist, occasionally pressing in and lightly squeezing her skin. Mimi retaliated by stroking his back, kneading the muscles behind his shoulders. Unable to fight back a moan, Roger splayed his hands along Mimi's spine, pulling her closer to kiss her even deeper then before. Once he returned her gently to the bed, Roger slid his hands up to her front, coming to rest on her belly. He took a moment to pause, smiling lovingly up at Mimi, who returned the smile languidly. His smile widening, he placed two or three kisses above her navel before allowing his hands to gradually pet upwards, until they covered her breasts. There, they began to mold and knead, inducing a pleasured groan from Mimi as his thumbs swirled over the hardened nipples. Hearing the sounds coming from Mimi enticed Roger to knead her breast with a firmer hold. The shift in pressure being given to the mounds made Mimi start to writhe beneath Roger. He was so good at this. She'd had quite a few lovers before she met him, but not one of them seemed to know how to touch her in just the right way. But Roger always knew not just where, but how to touch her. And the fact that it was Roger who was the one touching her made the pleasure she always felt seem to intensify.

By now, Roger had removed his hands from Mimi's breasts and bent down to lay a small kiss on each of the peaks in turn, lightly scraping his teeth against them as he pulled away. A large grin formed when he felt Mimi drive her fingers into his hair, scratching at his scalp and tugging on his locks, knowing that it was an indication of her approval of what he was doing. It was one of his favorite things in life, making this woman feel this way. There were not many things that he loved more then giving her pleasure, but the only things that rivaled it were Mimi and Rodolfo in general.

Deciding that it was time to step things up a bit, Roger coasted one hand down Mimi's side and past her hip, allowing it to press up between her legs where his fingers skimmed over her clitoris. Immediately, Mimi let out a sudden mewing sound, lurching her hips upward, begging for more while gripping the sheets beneath her tightly.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Roger smirked, knowing the answer full well, continuing to stroke, tease, and prod at the organ, never taking his eyes off Mimi as she continued to squirm under his touch. To her great disapproval, he withdrew his hand, stopping his actions far too soon for her liking.

"Roger," Mimi moaned in frustration. "Please, don't…."

"Shhh." Roger's face was hovering over Mimi's in an instant, pressing a finger to her lips. "Not just yet, baby." Mimi let out a small whine, straining to rub her hips against his, growing desperate for him.

_"Please_, Roger," she begged. "Just…" Roger silenced her with a strong, firm kiss, his tongue rubbing up against hers. While he kept Mimi distracted with his kisses, Roger moved his knee to carefully nudge her legs apart. When the proper spacing had been gained, Roger braced her hips gently before, with a careful, unhurried movement, he buried himself into her. The moment Mimi felt him enter her, she broke the kiss with a gasp of pleasure. Roger waited until she could catch her breath, showering her neck and collarbone with soft kisses in the meantime. Once Mimi had recovered from the feeling of him plunging in, she moved slightly, lovingly kissing his shoulder. Pushing himself up a bit, Roger gazed down at her, locking his eyes with hers as he slowly started to pull out and move back in just as slowly. His precise and unhurried pace continued, increasing in its tempo at an extremely gradual rate. Reaching down, Mimi latched her hands onto Roger's hips as he continued, allowing her head to fall back, arching her own hips to match his movements. When she began to feel tiny drops of moisture dripping onto her bare skin, she glanced back up to see that beads of sweat were now running down Roger's locks and dripping off the ends to fall on her body, mixing in with her own perspiration.

Roger's mouth was quickly drying out, and he allowed his tongue to dart out for a moment to wet his lips. The pace he was maintaining had intensified from its initial rate, and he continued to thrust and plunge deeper into Mimi. Each thrust seemed to be harmoniously combined with moans and grunts of exertion from the both of them. By the time the pace had reached its highest point, with Roger moving as hard and as fast as his body could manage, each driving thrust caused Mimi's breasts to lurch with each impaling.

As they continued to rock against each other, Mimi could distantly feel the mattress beneath her moving along with them. At some points, she was almost sure the entire room was pitching as well. Their breaths had sped up to an almost unnatural rate. And deep within, she felt a growing tremor approaching as Roger came closer to hitting her deepest point. The pressure was rapidly growing, making it very hard for her to hold on. Roger, doing all he could to keep his eyes open against the pressure that was building up in his own body, saw, as well as felt, how close she was getting. Letting instinct kick in, he molded her hips snuggly against his so he could burrow himself even deeper, wanting more then ever to bring her to the edge. But as he did so, Mimi had the exact same idea and gripped the bedposts to give herself extra leverage, lurching herself upward simultaneously with Roger's thrust. The combined actions brought on a chorus of low groans from both throats. Repeating this dual movement a few more times, they both drove their hips together with all the strength they had until they managed a final powerful thrust that brought instant explosions deep within the bodies of both lovers, accompanied with exalted cries that left them both out of breath.

It took them a while to recover from their climax. Roger and Mimi's chests were both heaving as they fought to regain hold of their breaths. Finally, with a soft, contented sigh, Roger had recovered enough to stroke Mimi's cheek with the back of his fingers. A lazy smile formed on Mimi's face as she started running her fingers through his hair, allowing a sudden realization to continually cycle through her mind.

That had been the first time they'd made love since that terrible night when Roger had crossed paths with Kain.

"Good to know you haven't lost your touch after spending most of October as one of the undead," Mimi quipped. Chuckling slightly, Roger pressed his lips to her forehead, where a film of sweat still resided.

"Meems, if spending an entire year locked away from the world, refusing to even leave the Loft, hadn't made me 'loose my touch', nothing will," he fired back. "But I appreciate the ego boost." Entwining her arms around his neck, Mimi pulled Roger down for a series deep kisses.

"I love you," Mimi spoke between kisses. A deep groan formed in Roger's throat.

"I love you, too," Roger replied, continuing to kiss her. "Mimi. My Mimi. My girl. My baby."

When the caresses had ended, Roger tried to roll off of her, only to have Mimi quickly hook her legs around Roger's, latching on to his body so she'd be pulled with him, doing all she could to make sure they'd be lying on their sides, still connected.

"Meems,…" Roger spoke slowly, slightly confused.

"Roger, please," Mimi sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding on for dear life. "I'm not ready to be separated from you just yet. I want to feel you a bit longer." Giving in instantly, Roger pulled her closer, cupping her rear with his hands to hold her in place. He had to admit it. After everything that had happened two months ago, he was more then content to stay this way as long as she wanted.

Roger continued holding Mimi against him, listening to her breathing growing softer until it was clear she'd fallen asleep. But even then, he didn't risk withdrawing from her and maintained their current position as he willed himself to sleep as well. As he did so, he made a vow that he'd never again let anyone, or anything, even try to separate him from Mimi the way Kain had nearly done. This was where he belonged, with her nearby. Nothing could ever change that. Nothing ever would.


End file.
